Written by Upasika SinghalNew Delhi | September 28, 2025 05:20 AM IST 3 min readTwo men approached Kataria at Vijay Mandal park, beat him up with sticks before firing four shots and killing him (Express Photos)Silence and grief hung thick in the air as scores gathered in front of Congress worker Lakhpat Singh Kataria’s house in South Delhi’s Begumpur on Saturday and waited for his body to arrive from the hospital.They wanted to bid him adieu for the last time a day after the 55-year-old was killed when he was out for a morning walk in at Vijay Mandal park in Malviya Nagar — two men approached him, thrashed him with sticks before firing four shots.Sources in police on Saturday said that the family of the deceased, who also worked as a property dealer, has not revealed much during, has not revealed much during the questioning so far. The police are now hoping to track the accused through CCTV footage and phone data.“The motive (of the accused) couldn’t have been political. The area has a BJP MLA and there were no elections coming up…It could only be the work of gangsters. Earlier, these criminals used to target businessmen in UP or Haryana, never in Delhi. But of late even businessmen in Delhi are being targeted,” said Harnam Singh, Kataria’s friend of over 30 years.Some suspect the murder was planned. “It was clearly a planned murder, otherwise they wouldn’t have known that he goes for a walk everyday… Begumpur has also become very unsafe for women in the last few years,” said Anjana, a neighbour.Singh said that Kataria was part of the local thana committee “that coordinates with the police on which areas need more police presence.” “And he was the one who was gunned down like this,” he mourned.The funeral attendees remembered Lakhpat Kataria — or Lucky as he was more affectionately called — as a man who was very involved with his local community.Story continues below this ad“He had been ensuring proper facilities for the area since this place was a village,” claimed Uma, an elderly woman who lives in the neighbourhood.“Back when this place was a village, he brought Manmohan Singh to his house to meet his elderly father,” said Singh, laughing as he recalled their days together as Congress party workers during the former Prime Minister’s one and only Lok Sabha election in 1999.As the body arrived, people lunged forward and touched his feet. One relative fetched a small pot containing a champa plant, bright with pink blooms, from their house.Kataria’s daughter, for the first time, broke down in tears as she caressed a plant. “He loved gardening, you know,” Singh reminisced.Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:delhi congressman shot dead