Prabhu Shankar Agarwal, who had hired goons to eliminate a tea-stall owner. A Telegraph picture

Bankshal court on Thursday framed charges against Prabhu Shankar Agarwal, who owns the Haldiram?s chain of confectioneries, for allegedly shooting at the 21-year-old nephew of a tea-stall owner in Posta last year.

The charges include attempt to murder and involvement in a criminal conspiracy. The same charges have been pressed against Gopal Tiwari, who was hired by Agarwal to kill the stall owner, and four others. One of them, Kulwant Singh, is still absconding.

?We booked all six accused under Sections 307 and 120B of the IPC, that cover attempt to murder and hatching a criminal conspiracy. The trial is likely to begin in July,? said Gyanwant Singh, deputy commissioner of police (detective department).

Around 5 am on March 30, Tiwari and three aides ? Kulwant Singh, Manoj Sharma and Raju Sonkar ? arrived in Jagmohan Mullick Lane, off Kalakar Street, and fired at Pramod Thakur, nephew of tea-stall owner Satyanarayan. The bullet hit Pramod?s right thigh.

?The men were hired to kill Satyanarayan, but they shot Pramod by mistake,? Singh said.

Agarwal?s link with the shooting came to light after the arrest of Tiwari in Hyderabad on May 24.

With Tiwari naming Agarwal, police began a hunt. They found out that he had left for London. Police contacted his airline agent, who said he had booked a return ticket to Delhi.

On the day of his arrival, a team from the anti-rowdy squad of the city police was sent to Delhi. He was arrested soon after he got off the flight.

During interrogation, the sleuths came to know that Agarwal had wanted to kill Satyanarayan because he was occupying a house that the businessman wanted to develop into a multi-storeyed building.

?After all his efforts to evict Satyanarayan proved futile, Agarwal called him to Binani Dharamshala, in Burrabazar, on February 27 and offered him Rs 4 lakh. Satyanarayan refused to vacate,? said an officer. ?Agarwal then decided to eliminate Satyanarayan. He contacted his associate Arun Khandelwal, who introduced him to Tiwari.?

After arresting Agarwal, police picked up Khandelwal, who had provided the car in which Tiwari and his aides drove to Posta and fled after the shooting.

Both Agarwal and Khandelwal are out on bail.