MEERUT: A 25-year-old man was allegedly shot dead in a forested area on Wednesday by his friends, who recorded the act and circulated the video on social media. A 12-second video of the incident surfaced on Friday, which purportedly showed the accused shooting the man thrice in the chest with a pistol.According to police, the body of Mohd Adil alias Rehan, a cloth trader from Meerut’s Lohia Nagar, was found near a tubewell in the forest on Wednesday. Preliminary investigation revealed that Adil was called out of his house by his friends Hamza and Jul Kumar on Tuesday afternoon. Police suspect the duo lured him into the forest, rendered him unconscious, and later shot him dead. In the video, one of the accused can be heard instructing the shooter while recording the video.An FIR under section 103 (murder) of BNS has been registered against Hamza, Jul Kamar, Imran, Salman, Shahvez, and Iqbal, who are currently on the run.SP (city) Ayush Vikram Singh said five teams have been formed to trace and arrest the accused. “We are also analysing the video and photos shared online to identify the culprits. A reward of Rs 25,000 has been declared on the arrest of Hamza and Jul Kamar,” said Singh.Meanwhile, a senior police officer privy to the case disclosed that Adil may have been killed over suspicion of tipping off rivals in the murder of his neighbour Abrar, who was shot dead a month ago. “Abrar’s relatives believed someone close betrayed him, and since Adil lived across the street from his house, suspicion grew against him,” he said.