Patient Falls Prey To Gang War, Killed 'Mistakenly' Inside Delhi Hospital

They came to kill a criminal but ended up killing a patient inside a hospital, instead.

The 32-year-old patient was shot dead inside the hospital ward in Delhi on Sunday, sparking safety concerns. Now, it turns out Riyazuddin was shot dead due to mistaken identity.

He was shot dead by an 18-year-old inside ward number 24 at Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital. The man that the shooter was looking for was in the opposite bed to Riyazuddin.

The shooter was accompanied by three and entered the ward through the emergency gate, CCTV footage showed. The men belonged to the group of gangster Hashim Baba while the criminal was from Nasir gang. The firing inside the hospital happened due to gang war, police said.

But, due to the wrong identification of the target, innocent Riyazuddin was killed. He was admitted to the hospital on June 23 for treatment of an abdominal infection.

Two of the shooters have been arrested by the police. "Shooter Faiz was caught from Loni, while Farhan was caught from Seelampur, Delhi," the police said.

Faiz told the police that a criminal, Badshah Khan alias Faheem, was the mastermind of this incident. "Faiz said that Badshah Khan had held a meeting at his flat in Babarpur and told the shooters about the target and how to run away after firing," the police said.

Faiz had arranged the bike that was used to reach and flee the hospital.

Resident doctors at the hospital began an indefinite strike today over the killing of the patient. "Our repeated appeals for enhanced security have been ignored, culminating in this tragic event (patient's killing). Until the Delhi government ensures a secure environment for everyone within the hospital, we cannot continue our duties," a Resident Doctors' Association (RDA) spokesperson said.

Multiple teams of the crime branch, a team led by the Station House Officer (SHO) of GTB Enclave police station, and a team comprising personnel of adjoining police stations are investigating the case.