In temple for Diwali pooja,man shot dead by relatives in front of wife,sons

Kumar,a carpenter in his early 40s,was rushed to Kurali Civil Hospital from where he was shifted to PGI,where he was declared dead on arrival.

He lived with his family in Maloya Colony in Sector 39.

The accused,according to Tejinder,“have been eyeing our five marla plot in Maloya for years”. The accused are Raj Kumar’s second cousins.

“They had come and threatened us when we purchased the land. We had lodged a complaint with the police,” she said. “We have several cases pending in court.”

Preliminary police investigations,however,revealed that the accused and the victim were involved in a dispute over division of their ancestral property. “As the accused were sore over not getting adequate share in the property in Maloya,they hatched a conspiracy to kill Kumar,” SHO Manjeet Singh,the Investigating Officer in the case,said.

Brother of the deceased,Harbhans Singh,said,“They fired with expert precision on the chest. My brother’s mobile phone was in his chest pocket. The bullet pierced the phone,its pieces were found inside the body after post-mortem.”

Gurmeet Singh alias Billa reportedly fired with a .12 bore double barrel gun.

Getting the post-mortem done,meanwhile,was an ordeal for the family. “PGI authorities sent the body to 16 hospitals. And doctors at GMSH-16 said it was a case of Kharar,so take the body to Civil Hospital there,” Kaur said.

The victim is survived by his wife and three children,a teenage boy,a 12-year-old girl and an eight-year-old boy.

The police have arrested Makhan Singh,who has been sent to two days police remand. Mohali SSP Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said the accused would also be arrested soon.

With inputs from
ENS,Mohali