DCP (south) P.K. Srivastava says the seemingly unrelated incidents were connected only after experts found that the injuries on Gulab and Suresh were caused by the same weapon.

Moreover, Gulab narrated a ``peculiar story'' about the circumstances in which he was attacked. He claimed two youths took him to a deserted area near Tuglaqabad Fort, asked him about his involvement in the February 22 incident and shot him.

``But he failed to ascribe a motive. We were not convinced. And our suspicions were confirmed when he narrated an altogether different story next time,'' says Srivastava. ``He even left the hospital on his own.'' Investigators, meanwhile, found that Gulab used to work as an assistant in Suresh's fabrication unit in Tughlaqabad for three years till recently. During this period, he used to live in Suresh's house and got very close to the family, especially Suresh's wife Kiran, says Srivastava.

``Last month, Suresh found out about the love affair and Gulab lost his job. But this did not deter Gulab and Kiran from meeting each other discreetly. Matters took a turn for the worse after Gulab asked Kiran to marry him, and Kiran refused saying she was a mother of five.''

After Gulab lost his job, he hired a youth to send messages to Kiran. He even found a job for the youth, Gaya Parshad, at Suresh's factory. On January 22 he gave him a katta and another job: to kill Suresh.

In the evening that day, when Suresh was parking his scooter outside his house, Gaya Parshad opened fired once. He didn't know that Suresh would survive, though the bullet had found its target.

Hearing the gunshot, Kiran had come rushing out. She later told the police that she had recognised the assailant but kept quiet, fearing that her ``love affair with Gulab would come out in the open''. Gaya Parshad, meanwhile, went back to Gulab and returned the katta.

For Gulab, this was just the beginning. Kiran confronted him and berated him for planning to kill Suresh. ``She said she would never forgive him for this. On February 26, heavy with remorse, Gulab went to the Tughlaqabad forests and shot at himself with the same katta. Then he limped back home and concocted the story about the two youths,'' says Srivastava. ``He told us that he shot at himself to make a point to Kiran: he loved her very much and he wanted to share her pain.''