A 32-year-old man was killed when unidentified car-borne assailants attacked a truck carrying pilgrims to Nanded Sahib in Maharashtra, at Jind bypass here on the intervening night of Tuesday-Wednesday.
The deceased has been identified as Gurpreet Singh, a resident of Rampur Kalera village in Fatehgarh Sahib district of Punjab.
As per details, when a truck carrying 45 pilgrims from Punjab reached the Jind bypass, a white Verna car bearing Haryana registration number started running parallel to the truck around 11.50pm on Tuesday night.
Yadvinder Singh, victim's elder brother, said, "We left our village around 3pm on Tuesday. We stopped for dinner at a place near the crime spot and proceeded on the journey again. I think, the assailants started entailing us from this spot."
"The assailants' car would overtake the truck and then slow down. This continued for some time.
Then a person sitting beside the man behind the wheels fired aiming at truck driver's cabin," he said.
Police said that the bullet hit Gurpreet Singh, who was sitting at the conductor side window of the truck, near the armpit. The accused then sped away.
There was chaos and pilgrims with the help of some locals informed the police and rushed the injured to local Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), where he was declared brought dead.
{{/usCountry}}There was chaos and pilgrims with the help of some locals informed the police and rushed the injured to local Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), where he was declared brought dead.
{{/usCountry}}DSP Anil Kumar Yadav reached the PGIMS to meet the kin of the deceased and investigate the matter.
The police offered to make arrangements for the night stay of pilgrims, but the pilgrims decided to return home instead. Only victim's family members stayed back waiting for the post-mortem.
Victim's brother Yadvinder Singh said it was not a case of old enmity or road rage. "The accused were not known to none of us. We could read only first half of the car's registration number, HR49…," he said.
Police said a murder case had been registered and further investigations were on.
Another pilgrim, Baljit Singh said Gurpreet spoke with his 2-year-old daughter and wife, who were back at home, over the phone just 15 minutes before the incident.