'Waiting for wedding photos, got his body'

MEERUT: There is shock, disbelief and quiet mourning at the Chauhans' sprawling 4,000 square feet house in Meerut's Shastri Colony. Sitting inside the house, also called Pushpa Villa after Ankit Chauhan's mother, Dharamveer Chauhan said on Tuesday, a day after his son was gunned down in Noida, "We were waiting for his wedding album. We got news of his death instead."
Yet to come to terms with his young son's murder in Sector 76 on Monday by two men, Dharamveer, who works as a property dealer in the city, said family members are inconsolable."He married Ameesha barely 34 days ago, on March 10," he wept. "We have not even seen Ankit's wedding album; it still has to arrive. Who knew something like this will take place and shatter our lives and Ameesha's," he said. The couple was planning a honeymoon outside the country.
Dharamveer said Ankit, who was killed while driving home in his SUV, had frantically called his cousin Naresh, who works with TV channel IBN7, moments before he was hit on the neck and hand by bullets. Telling TOI how he got to know about the attack, Dharamveer said, "Around 4.20pm, Ankit called up his cousin Naresh, who works at IBN7, and told him a car was following him. Even before Naresh could react, Ankit was shot and Naresh could hear on his phone all of what happened at the spot. Soon after Naresh disconnected Ankit's call, he called me up to tell me about the incident. That is when I, along with my wife, rushed to Noida."
Asked if there was any old enmity Ankit had, Dharamveer said, "Not any enmity that I know of. He had never fought during his school days. Why would he fight now? But, yes, I am sure it is a pre-planned murder and the police should investigate the matter as fairly as possible."
Ankit did his schooling from Meerut Public School and completed his engineering from Bharat Institute of Technology (BIT). He started living away from his family from 2011 after he joined the Chennai branch of TCS in February 2011, later shifting to Noida.
Dharamveer's is a well-off family, with elder son Anuj married and settled in Canada. The brothers had met recently on Ankit's marriage, which took place at Garden City Banquets in Meerut.
"The kids were planning a honeymoon outside the country. Ameesha has hardly eaten anything since morning and we don't want the ladies in the house to talk to the media," said Uday Pal Singh, maternal uncle of Ankit.
Ameesha, 23, originally from Muzaffarnagar's Pali village, was in no condition to speak. Family and friends had formed a protective wall around her.