Ghaziabad: A 28-year-old man was arrested on Thursday morning following a gunfight for allegedly killing his ex-lover at a hotel in Wave City last week. Police said the 23-year-old woman, a native of Hapur, had been in a relationship with Azharuddin for the past three years. However, as her parents had fixed her marriage elsewhere, he killed her. Shehzadis body was recovered from her hotel room on October 22.She had come to Ghaziabad on October 20 to meet Azharuddin on the pretext of shopping for her marriage. Her wedding was scheduled for November 14.Cops said she met the accused, and on October 21 morning, he strangled her to death with a pillow while she was sleeping. To confirm her death, he allegedly spent over 12 hours with the body and left the hotel on the pretext of buying dinner at night. He then fled with his friend Jalal, who was waiting for him outside the hotel, added cops. Azharuddin informed the womans brother, Danish, about her death the next day around 7am, following which the latter alerted the police.Danish filed a complaint against Azharuddin, based on which he was booked under IPC Section 302 (murder), and three teams were formed to nab him. During the wee hours on Thursday, police received a tip-off about his movement near Wave City and set up a check post. Around 4am, cops spotted a black Pulsar motorcycle approaching and signalled to stop, but the rider instead took a sharp turn and tried to escape. When cops started following him, he fired at them. During retaliation, a bullet injured his leg, and he fell down from the bike and was subsequently caught. He was then sent to a nearby hospital. During questioning, cops got to know his identity. Preliminary investigation revealed that there was a reward of Rs 15,000 on Azharuddin after he had looted a businessman earlier this year. He was arrested by Ghaziabad police three months ago and came out on bail about 15 days ago, said Saloni Aggarwal, the ACP of Wave City police station. After coming out of jail, he contacted Shehzadi and planned to meet her. He told police that he had been in a relationship with the victim for over three years. He left his family for her and sold his plot in Masuri to fulfil her wishes. But when he was in Dasna jail, he learned that the womans parents had fixed her marriage with a Delhi resident. On coming out, he tried contacting her, but she refused to talk. After much persuasion, she agreed to meet him, which is when he killed her, added Aggarwal. Police recovered the bike that was stolen from Ghaziabad and an illegal pistol, along with live cartridges. He was produced in a district court, which sent him to judicial custody.

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