Lucknow: A 40-year-old deputy manager of a private bank was found dead under mysterious circumstances in the Gudamba area on Monday, with a gunshot wound to the head from an alleged illegal pistol.Qazi Ahmad Zaid, was found lying in a pool of blood outside a room on the second floor of his residence in Adil Nagar along Kursi Road. Police said the incident is believed to have occurred around 5 am, but the family came to know about it nearly four hours later. According to police, five to seven family members were present inside the house at the time of the incident, yet none reported hearing any gunshot. The body was discovered around 9 am when Zaid’s wife, Taiyaba, woke up and found him missing from the bed. “When she called his phone, it was lying near the bed. On searching further, she reached the second floor and found him lying outside a room in a blood-soaked condition,” said Anindya Vikram Singh. Preliminary investigation revealed that the bullet struck Zaid on the right temple and exited from the left side, causing fatal injuries. An illegal country-made pistol was recovered from the spot. Police teams, including the Gudamba station staff led by inspector Prabhatesh Kumar Srivastava, along with forensic experts, examined the scene and collected evidence. Zaid’s elder brother, Qazi Ahmad Aziz, a railway employee, has expressed suspicion of foul play, alleging that unidentified persons may have taken his brother to the terrace and shot him. “He cannot have died by suicide. We suspect he was murdered,” the brother said, adding that a formal complaint will be submitted after the last rites. However, police said no suicide note or immediate evidence pointing conclusively to either murder or suicide has been found so far, and both angles are being probed. Originally from Mankapur in Gonda district, Zaid had been living in Lucknow with his extended family, including his brothers, wife, daughter, and other relatives. He was employed as deputy manager at a private bank in Aliganj.
