Man Shot At Union Minister's Lucknow Home After Fight Over Gambling, 3 Arrested: Cops

Union Minister Kaushal Kishore's son has been charged under the Arms Act, a day after a 30-year-old man was shot dead under mysterious circumstances at his home in Lucknow, the police said on Saturday.

Three men were arrested in connection with the case on Friday, the police said. According to the minister, his son Vikas Kishore lives at his Lucknow residence but he was in Delhi when Vinay Srivastava, described as his friend, was murdered at the house.

The pistol used by the accused to shoot Vinay is a licensed weapon owned by his son, according to his father. His arms licence was valid only in Uttar Pradesh, so he did not take the pistol with him, Mr Kishore claimed.

"On September 1, Vinay was killed at Vikas Kishore's residence in which his licensed pistol was used. A case has been filed against the licensee under section 30 of the Arms Act (punishment for contravention of licence or rule)," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Lucknow West) Rahul Raj.

The victim had a single gunshot wound to his head, the police said.

The report for cancellation of the licence has been forwarded to officials, he said.

On Friday, three men -- Ajay Rawat, Ankit Verma, and Shamim alias Baba -- were arrested in connection with the murder that took place at the minister's house in the early hours of the day, the police said.

According to a complaint filed by the victim's brother, the three men had invited Vinay for dinner at the minister's residence, where an altercation took place in the course of gambling.

In the initial investigation, it was revealed that before the incident took place, Vinay, Ajay, Ankit, Shamim and two others -- Saurabh Rawat and Arun Pratap Singh alias Bunty -- were playing cards for money and also had alcohol, the police said.

After some time, at the instruction of Ajay, Ankit and Shamim, Saurabh and Arun took their win and left, they said, adding that Vinay had lost Rs 12,000 in gambling.

Vinay got angry at this and confronted the three with accusations of ganging up against him, they said.

"Because of you, I have lost money, if the game was on, I would have won back the amount, Vinay had said," the police said in a statement.

This led to a fight among them, blows were exchanged, and Vinay lost a button of his shirt in the fight, which enraged him, police said.

As the fight went on, Ankit took out the licensed revolver of the minister's son which was kept under a pillow. The three caught hold of Vinay, and Ankit shot him in the head, killing him immediately, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Akash Kulhary said, adding the incident happened around 4 am.

The CCTV footage showed Saurabh and Arun leaving the house before Vinay was shot, police said.

Police recovered a .32 bore revolver, ammunition, a pack of cards and Rs 2,000 cash from the spot on Friday.

Police officer Vikash Rai told news agency PTI that "the pistol (used in crime) was manufactured in Kolkata".

The land on which the house is built belongs to Kaushal Kishore, the Union minister of state for housing and urban affairs and BJP MP from Lucknow's Mohanlalganj (SC) constituency. But the house is yet to be registered, said Jai Devi, the minister's wife.

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