This is the pits. A man was killed following a dispute over Rs 100 in a Mansa village past midnight today. Ajaib Singh allegedly attacked Harmail Singh, alias Mela, an employee of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB), with an axe at 1 am while he was sleeping in his house in Bahadurpur village. They had been locked in a dispute over Rs 100 for the past few days. Police have arrested Ajaib Singh and recovered the axe used in the crime. “Ajaib has confessed to have murdered Harmail by hitting him with the blunt side of the axe,” said Mansa SSP Manminder Singh. Bareta SHO Major Singh said by the time deceased’s wife, who was sleeping nearby with two kids, raised the alarm after hearing her husband’s cries, the accused had escaped by jumping the not-so-high wall of the house. Mela, who had three tractors, used to level the land by filling earth. Ajaib hired his service for getting his few acres levelled, for which Mela was promised a wage of Rs 1,000. But Ajaib charged Mela with not turning up for the work on time and not doing it properly, and paid him Rs 900. Mela insisted on getting the remaining amount of Rs 100, which led to bad blood between the two. “A few days back, Mela intercepted Ajaib and forcibly took Rs 100 from his pocket, and thrashed him,” said DSP (D) Jaspal Singh. He said Ajaib murdered Harmail to take revenge for the humiliation. The DSP said Ajaib was from a village in Sunam, and claimed before the police that he was acquitted in a murder case earlier.
