Ex-IAF officer gunned down: Police say sons hired hitmen; key accused on the run
A former IAF officer was murdered near his Ghaziabad home by hired hitmen, including a police constable and a notorious juvenile offender. The sons of the victim, embroiled in a dispute over money and property, allegedly paid Rs 5 lakh for the assassination. The constable and the sons are currently absconding.
GHAZIABAD: Police have identified one of their own, a constable posted in Kaushambi district, and an old name from juvenile crime registers as killers of a former Indian Air Force officer, who was shot near his house here the day after Christmas.Police said the two are hitmen, who were hired by victim Yogesh Kumar’s sons. A bitter dispute over money and the house had been festering within the family.Naveen Kumar, the constable, and Kumar’s two sons Nitesh and Guddu who gave the ‘supari’ are absconding. His partner in the crime, a 32-year-old man from Bulandshahr, has been arrested, police said on Thursday.The Bulandshahr man was convicted as a juvenile for wiping out his uncle’s family in one of the most shocking crimes to have happened in the state, the 2008 Barari massacre.
Among the seven victims were his pregnant aunt and a two-year-old cousin. Just 15 then, he was sent to a correction home. His father, the main accused, was sentenced to death in 2016 by a court.For several years now, he has been living in Ghaziabad. Kumar was his neighbour at Ashok Vihar in Loni. Police said Nitesh and Guddu gave him Rs 5 lakh to kill Kumar. He needed little convincing because he had his own run-ins with Kumar, including over feeding stray dogs in the area, and nursed a grudge.
Kumar had retired on July 31 last year as assistant warrant officer from the air force. According to police, the sons wanted a share of his “hefty savings” and were worried he would spend it. The latest flashpoint was Kumar’s decision to sell the house. “Kumar had asked both his sons to vacate the house. As their neighbour, the accused knew this. Kumar’s wife had told him this herself. Besides, Kumar and the accused had a spat over dogs in the locality.
Kumar targeted the strays that the accused fed milk and bread to,” Loni ACP Siddharth Gautam said.Police identified the accused through CCTV footage of the Hero Xtreme bike that he and Naveen rode the day of the crime, their faces masked. The bike’s number plate had been removed but police tracked down its owner after questioning people in the vicinity. The owner told police the accused had borrowed his bike “to go shopping”.
The accused was arrested from his house. Unlike Nitesh, Guddu and Naveen, he had not escaped to avoid suspicion falling on him.
His wife, eight-year-old son and a younger daughter live with him.“Nitesh and Guddu planned the murder with the accused on the terrace of Kumar's house. The accused knew Naveen, who is a constable with UP Police but has been on leave since Aug 2025. On the day of the murder, the accused hit Kumar with an iron rod. When Kumar fell to the ground, Naveen shot him in the head first. The accused fired a second bullet,” the ACP said. Kumar was ambushed by them just 50m from his house. A senior police officer said Naveen had taken a few days’ leave in Aug but never reported back to work.An FIR has been filed at Loni police invoking murder charges and sections of the Arms Act.