A 55-year-old doctor was shot dead at a private nursing home in Delhi’s Jaitpur last night, less than two months after the rape-murder of a 31-year-old doctor in Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

According to the staff at Nima Hospital, two teenagers reached the hospital late at night. One of them asked for a change of dressing for his injured toe. The night before, the teenager was treated at the hospital. After the dressing was done, the teenagers said they wanted a prescription and went to the cabin of Dr Javed Akhtar, a practitioner of Unani Medicine.

Minutes later, nursing staff Gajala Parveen and Md Kamil heard a gunshot. They rushed to the doctor’s cabin and found him bleeding from his head.

The hospital staff has told police that the suspects could be 16 or 17 years old.

Police have said it appears to be a case of targeted killing and the assailants’ visit the previous night could have been for a recce.

Police are now scanning the footage of CCTV cameras inside the hospital to identify the suspects.

Actor-politician Kangana Ranaut courted a new controversy on Wednesday with a social media post about Mahatma Gandhi and former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri.

The actor, who previously faced backlash for her comments on the farmers’ protests, paid homage to Lal Bahadur Shastri on his 120th birth anniversary through a post that appeared to downplay Mahatma Gandhi’s stature as the Father of the Nation.

“Desh ke pita nahi, desh ke to lal hote hai. Dhanye hai Bharat ma ke ye lal (‘The country does not have fathers; it has sons. Blessed are these sons of Mother India)” Ms Ranaut wrote on her Instagram Stories.

In a follow-up post, the actor credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for carrying forward Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy on cleanliness in the country.

The post on Lal Bahadur Shastri and Mahatma Gandhi has led to yet another row for the BJP MP from Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, with Congress leader Supriya Shrinate criticising Ranaut for her “lewd jibe” at Mahatma Gandhi.

“BJP MP Kangana made this lewd jibe on Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary. Godse worshippers draw distinctions between Bapu and Shastri ji. Will Narendra Modi wholeheartedly forgive his party’s new Godse devotee? There is the Father of the Nation, there are sons, and there are martyrs. Everyone deserves respect,” Ms Shrinate said in a post on X.

In March, Ms Shrinate herself had been embroiled in controversy before the Lok Sabha elections over an objectionable post regarding the actor.

Manoranjan Kalia, a senior BJP leader from Punjab, also criticised Ms Ranaut for her latest remarks.

“I condemn Kangana Ranaut’s comments made on Gandhi ji’s 155th birth anniversary. In her short political career, she has developed a habit of making controversial statements,” Mr Kalia said in a video posted on social media.

“Politics is not her field. Politics is a serious affair. One must think before speaking… Her controversial remarks cause trouble for the party,” he added.

It was only last month that Ms Ranaut faced backlash for advocating the return of the three farm laws repealed in 2021.

The actor, who was elected as an MP in June, alleged that the farmers’ agitation against the three farm laws was leading to a “Bangladesh-type situation in India”, claiming that “dead bodies were hanging, and rapes were taking place” at the protest sites.

Ms Ranaut later retracted her statement, acknowledging that she should remember she is not just an artist but also a BJP member. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)