A promising para athlete who was on the verge of representing India at this year’s Asian Para Games was allegedly shot dead by a friend and fellow athlete who suspected him of being responsible for his disqualification from a competition, Ghaziabad police said on Sunday.Police have detained a 23-year-old para athlete in connection with the murder of 24-year-old Chirag Tyagi, whose body was found at Sai Upvan city forest near GT Road on Saturday. (Sakbi Ali/HT Photo)Police have detained a 23-year-old para athlete in connection with the murder of 24-year-old Chirag Tyagi, whose body was found at Sai Upvan city forest near GT Road on Saturday.Tyagi, a resident of Basantpur Saithli village in Muradnagar, had recently emerged as one of India’s most promising para athletes. He had won the T12 400m event at the Indian Open in Bengaluru, which served as a selection trial for this year’s Asian Para Games in Japan, and had also secured a silver medal in the T13 1,500m event in Bengaluru ealier. Both categories are meant for athletes with partial visual impairment.“We have detained his friend, who is also a para athlete and a resident of the same village. The two had been friends for six to seven years,” said Upasana Pandey, assistant commissioner of police (City-1).According to investigators, Tyagi was travelling from his hostel in Delhi to his village on Saturday when the suspect allegedly executed a planned murder.“During the investigation, it came to light that the suspect accompanied Tyagi in a cab from Delhi and asked him to get down near Mahamaya Stadium close to the New Bus Adda Metro station. He then told Tyagi that a friend was expected to arrive with ₹50,000 and persuaded him to walk to Sai Upvan,” Pandey said.Once inside the forested area, the suspect allegedly shot Tyagi from behind and fled to his village, police said.Passersby later spotted the body and alerted the police. A team recovered the body around 3pm and informed the family. An FIR under Section 103(1) (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was registered at Kotwali police station.Investigators said CCTV footage and statements from family members helped them identify the suspect, who was subsequently detained for questioning.“He confessed to the crime and narrated the sequence of events. He told us that he had been debarred from a qualification process due to issues related to document verification and believed that Chirag had complained against him and was responsible for his disqualification,” Pandey said.Police said the suspect has not yet been formally arrested as efforts are under way to recover the weapon and determine whether any other individuals were involved.According to Tyagi’s family, the alleged motive stemmed from professional jealousy.“The suspect was rejected during qualification in March while Chirag got selected. A few days ago, Chirag was also selected for Japan. Chirag trusted him like a brother and never suspected anything because they had been friends for years,” said Rajesh Tyagi, the athlete’s uncle.Deputy commissioner of police Dhawal Jaiswal said multiple teams had been formed to recover the weapon and investigate the possibility of wider involvement.The killing has shocked India’s para athletics community, where Tyagi was widely regarded as a future international medallist. “Chirag had the potential to run below 49 seconds in the 400m and win a Paralympic medal. It is a huge loss for Indian para athletics,” said Satyanarayana, chairman of the Paralympic Committee of India.Tyagi had risen to No. 3 in the Asian rankings in the T12 400m category last year and was expected to be named in India’s squad for the Asian Para Games.His coach, Gajendra Singh, remembered him as a dedicated athlete with immense promise. “He had been training under me for two years. He had tremendous temperament and determination. He won two medals at the Khelo India Para Games, represented India in Tunisia and was primed for his maiden Asian Para Games,” Singh said.With inputs from Shantanu Srivastava