A 24-year-old owner of a chemist shop in Feroz Nagar locality in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, was shot dead by three masked assailants, the police said.

The police claimed to have arrested one of them and said that three people, including two brothers of the woman with whom the deceased Sajid Saifi was in a relationship, were involved in the incident.

“The two brothers who were not happy with their sister’s love affair with Sajid and had warned him earlier. But he remained adamant and kept on meeting her. On Friday night around 11 pm, Sajid was at his shop with a 10-year-old boy living in his neighbourhood when two men asked him for some medicine and suddenly opened fire. The minor survived the attack and later informed the family members of Sajid,” said Rohit Singh Sajwan, the SSP, Meerut.

The officer said that two teams have been formed to arrest the absconding criminals, while one who is the brother of the woman with whom Sajid allegedly was in love is already in police custody at Lisadi Gate police station.

“Sajid was rushed to the hospital where doctors declared him brought dead. Three bullets hit him and the assailants fled the spot waving the weapon to dissuade the crowd which rushed to the shop after hearing the gunshots. He was the youngest among four brothers and sisters in the family,” said Kuldeep Singh, in charge of the Lisadi Gate police station.