Men hunting for wild boar shoot farmer in chest in Mohali

Police have arrested Manjeet Singh, who is a forest guard in Mohali, and have recovered a double-barrel gun that fired the shot that hit the victim

A farmer was shot in the chest while a group of men were hunting for a wild boar in Tarapur village, Mullanpur, on Wednesday night.

The victim told the Mohali police that when one of the men took aim at a boar and opened fire, the bullet hit him instead. (HT Photo/For representation only)

The victim, Soma Singh, is battling for life at PGIMER, Chandigarh.

Police have arrested Manjeet Singh, who is a forest guard, and have recovered a double-barrel gun that fired the shot that hit the victim.

Three other men in the hunting group, identified as Nirmal Singh of Tarapur, Arunjit Singh of Khairpur and Narendra Rao of Chandpur, are at large.

In his statement to the police, Soma said he was guarding his farm on Wednesday night, when he spotted the men on the prowl for a wild boar. On being stopped by him, they left, but returned around 2.30am. As one of the men took aim at a boar and opened fire, the bullet hit him instead. His friend rushed him to the Kurali civil hospital, where doctors referred him to PGIMER.

Kharar-2 DSP Amanpreet Singh said the other accused have been booked and will be arrested soon. “We are also verifying how the gun was not deposited ahead of the elections in Punjab,” he added.