The incident took place in Outer Delhi’s Swaroop Nagar area around 2.30 pm on Saturday.

Shashi Kumar, 40, a housewife, died on the spot, the police said. Her son Ajay, 18, is admitted in Bara Hindu Rao Hospital with bullet injury in stomach; he is said to be critical.

The two accused — Raju and Anil, both 18 years old — have been held. The police said they work as electricians in a godown near the victim’s house, and today’s incident was a direct fallout of Raju harassing Shashi’s 16-year-old daughter. The teenage girl reportedly rebuffed Raju’s advances for long, and when the accused tried to misbehave with her again on Saturday morning, she took the complaint home.

The police said her brother Ajay was set to confront the duo, who, though, met him in front of the family's house — in Nangli Poona village on GT Road.

Neighbours have told the police that Raju and Anil arrived around 2.15 pm, and the two exchanged heated words with Ajay. A few minutes into the row, Raju took out a countrymade pistol and opened fire. He had taken aim at Ajay, eyewitnesses have told the police, but his mother Shashi came in front. The bullet struck her chest; Shashi died instantly, the police said.

Raju, the police said, then fired another round from the pistol, and hit Ajay in stomach this time.

Neighbours had by then called the PCR, and the cops, who were close by, caught Raju and Anil as they made an attempt to escape. They were taken to Swaroop Nagar Police Station for interrogation, and were later booked for murder and attempt to murder. The police have recovered two countrymade pistols from them.

The sibling’s father Vijay Kumar works as a supervisor at a transport company in the area, the police said. Ajay, they added, is a Commerce student, while his sister is doing Class XI from Open School.