NEW DELHI: Days before a woman’s ‘chaliswa’ -- a 40-day mourning ritual -- was to be observed, her 20-year-old daughter was shot dead in Delhi’s Shahdara, leaving their family to deal with another cruel blow within a span of weeks. Saira was shot twice by her boyfriend, Rizwan (20) around 9.30 pm on Monday at Shahdara’s GTB Enclave area, a senior police officer said.
She is survived by her two brothers and two sisters who are now having to come to terms with the twin tragedy. “We were still mourning one loss, now we are preparing for another funeral,” a family member said.
Saira had only recently moved to live with one of her sisters, Sayyeda (41), and her husband in Kudi Colony after their mother’s death. Her father died many years ago.
The family was preparing for the ‘chaliswa’ of Saira’s mother on Thursday. The next day, she was supposed to go to Jaipur to another sister’s house.
On Monday night, Saira had dinner and went to her room, a relative said. “When Sayyeda went to her room around 10 pm, she was not there.”
Since it was not unusual for Saira to go out at night to meet Rizwan, the family didn’t suspect anything. However, late at night around 2 am, they received a call from the police saying she had been shot dead.
The spot near the Delhi Jal Board office at Sunder Nagri where she was killed had blood spatters -- for many in the area, this was the first such sight.
Raj Kumar Bhandari (51), a property dealer, who lives close to the spot, said at first he thought he heard something like a firecracker burst. “I had just finished eating when I heard a noise. I thought children were bursting crackers to chase away monkeys from the area which they
usually do,” he said.
When he stepped out he saw a huge crowd gathered around, only to discover a girl lying on the road in a pool of blood. “We were terrified seeing the blood. This is the first such case in our vicinity,” he said. Another resident of the area said he didn’t hear any noise but later saw police personnel at the spot.
“I saw a huge crowd gathered around. When I came out, a girl was lying down and she was covered with a white cloth. There was a lot of blood around her,” he added.