Caught consuming alcohol inside Patiala gurdwara complex, woman shot dead

Although the police initially identified her as Parwinder Kaur, as reflected in her Aadhaar card, her brother told the police later in the day that her real name was Kulwinder Kaur. She was aged around 40, her family said.

Giving details of the killing, Senior Superintendent of Police Varun Sharma said Kaur, who carried a liquor bottle inside the gurdwara complex, was “consuming liquor sitting near the sarovar (holy pond)” when some devotees objected to it.

“They took her to the gurdwara manager. They were standing near the manager’s office when the accused, Nirmaljit Singh Saini, a Patiala-based real-estate dealer, opened fire from his licenced revolver,” said the SSP.

He said Saini fired at least five bullets. “The woman received three bullets and died on the spot. Another bullet hit Sagar, a devotee, who is under treatment at Rajindra Hospital,” he said.

The police said Saini was arrested and an FIR was registered at Anaj Mandi police station for murder, attempt to murder and under provisions of the Arms Act.

“The accused was into property business,” SSP Sharma told The Indian Express, adding that Saini had no previous link with the woman. “They did not know each other. The accused is a devotee who used to visit the gurdwara twice a day. He opened fire in a fit of rage on knowing that the woman was consuming alcohol at the shrine.”

On how someone could carry a firearm inside the gurdwara premises, the SSP said that “a round-the-clock checkpoint with four PCR cops and paramilitary force is always stationed outside the gurdwara but the security arrangements inside are taken care of by the gurdwara management”.

“I will not mince words. The police do not frisk devotees who visit the gurdwara. The SGPC (Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee), which manages the gurdwara, can answer how the accused carried a weapon inside,” he said.

Giani Parnam Singh, head granthi of the gurdwara, said, “We do not frisk devotees who come to pay obeisance. It is their own morality that they should not carry liquor or weapons inside the gurdwara.”

SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami demanded a “high-level inquiry into the incident”. He said “anti-Sikh forces were targeting gurdwaras with a deliberate conspiracy and the government was a silent spectator”. He said: “The act of drinking inside the gurdwara was a conspiracy.”

Later in the evening, the SGPC honored Saini’s parents with a “siropa” – a robe of honour – at their residence in Patiala. Jaskaran Singh from SGPC’s media team tweeted: “Parents of Nirmaljit Singh Saini, honored with siropa (rob of honor) by Giani Pritpal Singh, head granthi Gurdwara Dukhnivaran Sahib, Patiala, accompanied by SGPC members Jarnail Singh Kartarpur and Satwinder Singh Tohra.”

According to SSP Sharma, Kaur’s address on her Aadhaar card indicated that she was from Patiala, but she left long back. On Sunday, she boarded a bus from Zirakpur in Mohali district to reach Patiala. “As per the CCTV cameras checked until now, she was alone,” he said.

At the press conference, the SSP said a preliminary police probe found that Kaur’s Aadhaar card had the address of a PG accommodation from where she moved out two years ago.

Kaur was cremated in the evening after her brother and mother claimed the body, said the police. Her brother Gurmail Singh, from Patiala’s Asmanpur village, claimed the body. Identifying his sister as Kulwinder Kaur, he told the police that she got married at an early age to a man from Bhawanigarh in Sangrur. She later got divorced and had been living separately since 2016. “She also had a daughter from her marriage, who is married,” said Inspector Amandeep Singh, SHO of Anaj Mandi police station.

SSP Sharma said a prescription from a drug de-addiction centre was found in her belongings. “She was undergoing treatment for alcohol addiction at Adarsh Hospital, Patiala. The doctor has written that she was having mood swings, was under depression and had frequent negative thoughts,” the SSP said.

The head granthi of the gurdwara said around 8 pm Sunday, the woman entered the premises. “She sat near the sarovar and started drinking. Some devotees informed our on-duty woman guard. When she tried to stop her [from drinking], the woman tried to hit our guard Paramjit Kaur with the bottle,” he said.

“In the meantime, other devotees gathered there. Our woman guard and another gurdwara worker, Gagandeep Singh, were injured when she attacked them with the bottle. She was taken to the manager’s room and, in the meantime, we informed the police,” he said.

A little after a police team arrived at the spot, one of the devotees gathered there opened fire at the woman, he said. “She died on the spot… Everything happened between 8 and 8.30 pm,” he said. “The man who opened fire was arrested from the spot.”

SHO Amandeep said Saini was also a divorcee and was booked in a dowry harassment case in which he was bailed out.