LUCKNOW: It was the absence of a piece of

in his assailant’s

at a wedding six months ago that led to a 20-year-old being shot at.

The victim, Miraj, a resident of Madiaon, was shot at in his neighbourhood on Saturday night. A school van driver, he sustained firearm injury in his chest and is currently in a critical condition at KGMU trauma centre.

The elder brother of the victim, Mohammad Siraj (25) said in the FIR that both residents of Dudauli, Mohammad Arif and Ajay Kapoor, had attempted to kill his brother. Both were arrested on Sunday.

“Arif was upset over alleged humiliation that he faced during a dispute with Miraj in a wedding ceremony about six months ago. To avenge that, he took the help of history-sheeter, Sanket Verma, who is currently serving jail term in other cases. Arif met Verma during the latter’s trial in the court. Verma introduced Ajay, a shooter, to Arif. He directed Ajay to help Arif assassinate Miraj,” said station house officer of Madiaon Santosh Kumar Singh.

“About six months ago at the wedding of our relative, Arif was a guest and my father was serving food. He wanted a particular piece of mutton during dinner. Over that, he had a brawl with my father and he insulted him by threatening to throw the plate of food on his face. Miraj heard Arif insulting our father and he intervened, due to which the dispute between the two got escalated. Later, elders in the wedding pacified the two and controlled the situation,” said Miraj.

On Sunday, both assailants involved in the contract killing were arrested and an FIR was lodged against the two for attempt to

. Further investigations continued till late in the night. It was also revealed that a sum of Rs 50,000 was paid for the contractual killing of the victim.

The SHO said that the victim, Mohammad Miraj (20), a resident of Dudauli in Madiaon, works as a school van driver. He had gone to attend a birthday party at a friend’s house in the same locality on Saturday. He was returning home around 11pm when two assailants on a motorcycle approached him and shot him in the chest with a countrymade .315 bore pistol.

Miraj, however, survived and identified the assailants and informed his elder brother who then lodged the FIR with Madiaon police.