Who was Vikas Chaudhary, the Congress leader shot dead in Haryana?

On Thursday morning, Vikas Chaudhary, a spokesperson of the Congress in Haryana, was fatally shot at by unknown assailants in Faridabad. Chaudhary was 38 years old.

In chilling footage from a CCTV camera, which was posted by the Haryana Congress unit, two men are seen moving from a white sedan towards the SUV used by Chaudhary and opening fire. While one shooter fired from the front of the SUV at Chaudhary, the other opened fire from the driver's side. The two perpetrators fled in the white sedan. The time stamp of the CCTV footage shows the incident occurred shortly after 9am on Thursday.

Chaudhary was leaving a gym in the Sector 9 area of Faridabad when he was shot at in his car. Chaudhary died of his injuries in a hospital. Police officials said around nine-ten bullets were fired at Chaudhary.

Vikas Chaudhary joined the Congress in 2015 after he left the Indian National Lok Dal. Chaudhary was associated with the INLD for years, becoming the Faridabad district president of the INLD. However, Chaudhary was reportedly unhappy at the INLD for neglecting his claims for a ticket to the assembly elections of 2014, which was instead given to a former BJP activist who had switched sides. The BJP eventually came to power in those elections.

Chaudhary joined the Congress in May 2015 in the presence of former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Sigh Hooda. According to The Tribune newspaper, Chaudhary had then claimed the Congress could “bounce back” given the “disintegration” of the INLD and the failure of the BJP government. He had said the INLD was facing a leadership vacuum.

The Congress demanded justice for Vikas Chaudhary's death. In a tweet, the party said, “We are deeply angered & saddened by this act of grotesque violence against a member of the Congress Party. We urge the Haryana govt. to bring the perpetrators to justice at the earliest. Our sincere condolences to his family in this time of grief.”