Ex-councillor shot dead in Ujjain; wife, two sons detained

Bhopal, Oct 11 (IANS) A Congress leader and former councillor was shot dead at his residence in Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain district on Friday.

The deceased has been identified as Haji Kalim Khan, alias Guddu (60).

Khan was shot dead around 5 a.m. in Wazir Park Colony within the jurisdiction of the Neelganga police station area.

After hearing the gunshots, neighbours rushed him to a hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival, police said.

The neighbours informed the police officials about the crime, after which they arrived at the spot and detained Khan's wife and their two sons for interrogation.

Preliminary investigations suggested that the crime occurred over a land dispute in the family.

Khan's wife Nilofer and their two sons - Danish and Ashif have been living separately for the last few years.

Police said Khan had evicted his wife and two sons from his home around a decade ago, which led to a dispute within the family.

As per the reports, there have been several incidents of disputes within the family.

Khan's maternal uncle, who informed policemen about the incident, blamed his wife and two sons for the crime.

"Wife and two sons have been detained for interrogation and further investigation was underway," a senior police official told media persons.

An attempt to kill Khan was made a couple of days back, however, he survived after jumping into a drain when shots were fired at him, according to police.

After surviving the attack on October 4, Khan had complained at a local area police station, claiming danger to his life.

After that incident, Khan confined himself in his home.

Meanwhile, the Congress state unit claimed that if the police had taken action in time, the crime would not have happened.

In a post on social media platform X, Congress' Madhya Pradesh unit posted: "A former councillor was shot dead in his house in Ujjain. This was the second attack on him within a week. If the police had taken strict action in time, this incident would not have happened."

"Ujjain is the Chief Minister's hometown, but there is no sense of security in his city either," the post read.