Gold medallist para-athlete shot dead in UP; fellow athlete held

The police suspecting the murder of the national-level para-athelete as a potential revenge motive stemming from a document verification dispute.

A para-athlete has been arrested for allegedly shooting dead national-level para-athlete and gold medallist Chirag Tyagi, with police suspecting it to be a revenge killing linked to a complaint over document verification.

The 24-year-old Tyagi, a resident of Basantpur Sethli village in Muradnagar, was found dead near Sai Upvan in Ghaziabad on Saturday.

According to his family, he had recently returned from a training camp in Pune and reached Delhi on May 29.

Family members said they last spoke to him on Saturday morning when he informed that he would reach home by the afternoon. His mobile phone subsequently became unreachable before police informed the family about the incident.

Deputy commissioner of police, city, Dhawal Jaiswal said on Sunday that preliminary examination of the body and evidence collected from the spot suggested that Tyagi had been shot dead.

During the investigation, the police detained one Yash Khatik on Saturday evening, who is also a para-athlete and had previously trained with Tyagi.

According to Jaiswal, the probe revealed that Tyagi had lodged a complaint against Khatik during a document verification process. Following the complaint, Khatik's eligibility was cancelled, leading to resentment and a desire for revenge, the officer said.

During questioning, the accused allegedly confessed to shooting Tyagi with a pistol, police said.

Police teams have been deployed to recover the weapon used in the crime, while other evidence is also being collected, officials said.

Further legal proceedings are underway and all aspects of the case are being investigated, the police said.