2-yr-old killed in celebratory firing

When people in the procession found out about the boy's death, they sped up the wedding rituals while the accused fled

- Arun Singh

NOIDA: A two-year-old boy, who was watching a wedding procession snake through his congested Noida neighbourhood on Sunday night, was killed after the revellers fired a few shots as part of celebratory firing and struck him in the head, police officers said on Monday.

Police said Ansh Sharma, the deceased, lived with his family at Aghapur village in Noida, Sector 41. Investigators said that the wedding procession was coming from Gurugram to Noida, adding that two suspects — identified only by their first names of Happy and Deepanshu, both residents of Gurugram — are currently on the run.

Sharing details, the boy's father Vikas Sharma said that his family had moved from Ashok Vihar in Delhi to the Aghapur area in Noida only around two weeks ago.

"On Sunday, at around 8.50 pm, my family and I were in our third-floor house, watching from our balcony a wedding procession that was passing through the neighbourhood. As we were watching the celebrations, two people suddenly fired multiple shots in the air," he said.

"Moments later, blood started profusely coming out of his head, and he collapsed. After a few seconds, I realised that a bullet hit him," he added.

The family and their neighbours rushed the boy to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him dead. On the father's complaint, a case under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and the Arms Act was registered at the Sector 49 police station, officers said.