‘Move your car’: Businessman in Fortuner shoots truck driver for honking in Noida

NOIDA: A 28-year-old truck driver was shot in the head after an argument over honking with a businessman drinking inside his Toyota Fortuner in Sector 63. The incident — which occurred around 2am on Friday — left the victim fighting for his life at Safdarjung Hospital.
Lalu Prasad — a resident of Badaun — was driving a truck loaded with snacks from the Haldiram factory in Sector 63 to Orai when he encountered the Fortuner parked right in the middle of the road near Ginger hotel. What began as a simple request for passage soon turned into a heated exchange as the SUV owner — Vikash Kumar (47) — refused to move his vehicle.

Lalu, according to his friend Surjeet, waited for five minutes for Vikash to remove the SUV, but to no avail. When Lalu honked a couple of times and asked Vikash to make way for him, the businessman allegedly hurled a volley of abuses.
"There were two persons inside the Fortuner. Lalu waited patiently for some time, but started blaring the horn as he was getting late. After an exchange of words, they eventually turned the car, moved a little ahead and pulled over after a few metres," said Surjeet, who was driving another truck behind Lalu's.
As Lalu started to drive away, Vikash allegedly asked him to stop. Still seated inside the car, he whipped out a pistol and fired at Lalu, hitting him above the right eyebrow.
"We wasted no time, but informed police and took Lalu to a nearby hospital for treatment. As his condition deteriorated, he was referred to Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi," Surjeet said.
On Friday evening, Lalu was still battling for life — with the bullet still lodged in his head — and awaiting a surgery.
Vikash — who runs a milk business in Jaipur — was arrested from his house in Noida Sector 71. His employee Lalit Kumar (28), who was with him in the SUV, was picked up from Ambedkar Nagar.
Shakti Mohan Avasthi, DCP (central Noida), said the two were headed for Haridwar, but turned back when Vikash's wife called up to say she was feeling unwell. The men had been drinking in the car for some time — first in Bhopura and then Sector 63 — when the incident occurred.
CCTV footage confirmed that both the Fortuner and Lalu's truck were moving parallelly when the shooting took place after a brief conversation between the drivers. Police said Vikash had obtained his gun licence from Bulandshahr in 2005 and routinely carried the weapon with him.
The dairy businessman had bought the Fortuner only last month and got his number plate a couple of days ago.
According to Avdesh Pratap Singh, SHO of Sector 63 police station, Vikash told interrogators he had fired in the air, but the bullet accidentally struck Lalu in the head.
However, following a complaint from Surjeet, an FIR was registered against both Vikash and Lalit under sections 109 (attempt to murder), 351 (2) (criminal intimidation), and 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of trust) of the BNS.
"We will now write to the authorities concerned to cancel Vikash's gun licence," the DCP said.