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‘Intoxicated’ man hacked to death near Golden Temple
The victim was allegedly inebriated and consuming tobacco in the vicinity of the Golden Temple, which led to a heated spat with two nihangs; waiter who joined the assaulters has been arrested
Nearly six hours after he was stabbed by three persons, including a nihang and a hotel waiter, a 30-year-old man was found dead on Thursday morning on Mahna Sahib road that leads to the Golden Temple from Sultanwind Gate.
Enraged over the man being in inebriated state and consuming tobacco in the vicinity of the Golden Temple, the trio assaulted him outside a hotel, police said.
The incident took place around 1am, merely 800m away from the Golden Temple. Notably, there is no ban on drinking or smoking in the area.
The incident was recorded on a hotel’s surveillance camera and a video of the same has been widely circulated on social media. In the clip, a nihang and another person can be seen arguing with the victim – Harmanjit Singh of Chatiwind village. As per the video, the victim first hit the nihang with his fist. It led to a fight in which the nihang and another person stabbed him. A waiter in the hotel, Ramandeep Singh, a resident of locality near Khalsa College, Amritsar, was also seen joining the assaulters.
In the video, the victim was seen getting up immediately after the assault and leaving the place. The police, however, recovered his body from outside another hotel, which is a few yards from the place of incident, in the morning.
As per the FIR registered at the Division B police station under sections 302 (murder) and 34 of the IPC, the other accused are Charanjit Singh and Tarundeep Singh.
Amritsar police commissioner Arun Pal Singh said, “Ramandeep has been arrested. According to him, the victim was drunk and consuming tobacco products, to which the nihang objected given the proximity to the Golden Temple. However, his claims are yet to be verified. Ramandeep said he didn’t know the other accused and had joined them spontaneously.”
“It is unfortunate that passers-by remained mute spectators and nobody intervened. Surprisingly, the assault also went unnoticed by the cops deployed in that area,” the police commissioner said, adding that other accused have also been identified and would soon be arrested.
Ramandeep said, “The victim was accompanied by a woman and both were under influence. Both carried tobacco in their hands. I was on duty at the hotel, when I saw two persons objecting to their consumption of intoxicants. But the victim got aggressive and tried to hit the nihang first. He also snatched the kirpan of the nihang to hit him. I just came out to intervene. I have no role in his death.”
Seeking action against the killers, Balwinder Kaur, mother of the deceased, said, “My son worked in a factory. We had recently sold our house to send him abroad. He had received a phone call from someone and left the house on Wednesday. He did not return the whole night. We thought he might be with his friends. It was in the morning that we were told by the police that he had died.”
