Prayagraj: A civil engineer, working for the Indian Air Force (IAF), was shot dead under mysterious circumstances at his official residence in the cantonment area of Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, in the wee hours of Saturday. S N Mishra (51), was shot in the chest. He was rushed to the Army Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
According to Manoj Singh, SHO, Puramufti police station, the body has been sent for autopsy and CCTV footage of the area is being scanned to try and identify the shooter. Mishra is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.
There are two versions to what happened. Some say that the killer entered the lawn of Mishra’s official residence around 3 am on Saturday and called out to him. He got out of bed and went to the open window. The gunman, who was standing outside, shot him from a short distance.
The other version is that the assailant got close to the bedroom window and shot Mishra in his sleep. His family members, as well as neighbours, woke up on hearing the noise and rushed the profusely bleeding engineer to hospital, but he could not be saved.
“The shooter seems to be a professional. He may have been hired by somebody to kill Mishra. We will be going through both his personal and professional records to check if he had any enemies who could go to the extent of getting him killed. We are not ruling out any possibility. We shall also seek assistance from the IAF to know about the work he was involved with,” a senior police officer said.
