Lucknow, February 19 A road rage incident last year, followed by alleged verbal abuse, triggered the shooting of a retired Indian Air Force officer in Lucknow on January 30, police said on Thursday, adding that two accused have been arrested in the case.
DCP (South) Nipun Agarwal said the prime accused, Amit Mishra, harbored a grudge against the officer following a confrontation in November 2025.
The accused from the Amethi district was riding his motorcycle when he had an altercation with the retired flight lieutenant, during which the latter allegedly abused and slapped him, Agarwal said.
"Mishra took the abuse very seriously, especially since his mother had been murdered a few years earlier," the DCP said.
While the matter seemed to have subsided at the time, Mishra continued to harbor resentment towards the retired IAF officer, he added.
On January 30, when Mishra returned to Lucknow, he spotted the officer's car, which had an Air Force sticker, at a shopping complex in the Sushant Golf City area and identified him.
Agarwal said Mishra, who had been carrying an illegal country-made pistol for some time, approached the officer on the pretext of asking for directions and shot him in the head when he came close.
He then fled the scene on a motorcycle along with his elder brother, Durgesh Mishra.
The officer, who runs a cloud kitchen, is currently stable and undergoing recovery, the DCP said, flanked by ADCP Rallapalli Vasanth Kumar and ACP (Gosaiganj) Rishabh Yadav.
Police teams examined the evidence and analyzed around 300 CCTV camera footage before arresting the two accused from Jhijhilapurwa early Wednesday, Agarwal said.
An illegal .315 bore country-made pistol, a spent cartridge, and the motorcycle used in the crime have been seized, he added.