As the Tiwaris were cremated amid heavy police deployment and the cries of grieving relatives on Tuesday, neighbours struggled to come to terms with how childhood friendships and years of closeness had given way to deadly hostility. Just 10 metres separate the homes of the Tiwari and Shukla families in Saadatganj, but a bloodbath allegedly sparked by a parking dispute and a battle for local dominance has left three members of one family dead.
The firing claimed the lives of Shivaji Tiwari, his businessman son Shivendra Tiwari and another family member, Suyash Tiwari. Locals recalled that the relationship between the families went beyond being neighbours. “However, a neighbourhood dispute, growing bitterness and a contest for local influence strained ties between the two families. The families had watched their children grow up in the same neighbourhood, their homes separated by just a few steps.
The Tiwari family had helped the Shuklas establish themselves when they were less financially secure, residents said. Thirty-year-old Shivesh Tiwari, who was preparing to get married, shared a childhood friendship with Rishabh Shukla, the accused in Monday’s shooting, said neighbour Rakesh Saxena.
