E-Paper
Mohali: Shots fired outside Sector-68 cafe amid brawl
Complainant Germanjit Singh, 24, a resident of Sector 70, Mohali, and owner of Urban Chai Cafe, told police that Udit Shaukeen owed him ₹7,000 due to an unsettled food bill, which led to a brawl
Phase-8 police on Sunday arrested an army soldier for allegedly firing two bullet shots at a cafe owner in Sector 68’s District One market following a brawl over a food bill past Saturday midnight.
A 45-bore Indian-made pistol, besides a Toyota Fortuner car, used in the crime, was recovered from the possession of the accused, Satwant Singh, 30, a native of Puranpur, Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh.
According to police, Satwant is posted with the army in Jalandhar. Police also booked his friend Udit Shaukeen, a UP native and currently residing in Gillco Society, Kharar, who was accompanying him at the market.
Udit, whose unsettled ₹7,000 food bill led to the brawl, fled the spot after Satwant allegedly opened fire at the cafe owner.
Complainant Germanjit Singh, 24, a resident of Sector 70 and owner of Urban Chai Cafe, told police that Udit owed him ₹7,000 due to an unsettled food bill.
“I got a call from Satwant, who said he wanted to talk regarding Udit. He informed me that they both were coming to my cafe. They reached around 1.15 am in an SUV (PB-70D-7200). They asked me to sit in their car. Satwant started arguing with me but I told him that my issue was with Udit regarding the pending bill and I had nothing against him. Without provocation, Udit started hitting me with his elbow. As I tried to get out of the car, Udit grabbed my arm and Satwant got down from the vehicle and fired two bullets at me. I somehow managed to turn his arm to dodge the bullets,” the complainant claimed.
Hearing the gun shots, employees from the cafe and the nearby eateries, besides security guards deployed in the market, rushed to Germanjit’s rescue and nabbed Satwant, while Udit fled the spot.
Amid the melee, Satwant was assaulted and hit repeatedly with chairs on his head by the cafe staff, as captured by CCTV cameras at the spot, leaving him bleeding profusely.
Germanjit was also seen assaulting, manhandling, threatening and abusing Satwant in the CCTV footage as he continued to bleed. Germanjit himself also suffered blows as his staff assaulted Satwant.
After onlookers informed the police control room at 112, a police team reached the spot and rushed both the complainant and the accused to the civil hospital in Phase-6.
After treatment, police took the accused into custody.
“Acting swiftly, our team, led by inspector Rupinder Singh, arrested the key accused and recovered the licensed weapon from him. As the weapon is not owned by the accused, we are yet to ascertain the licence holder. Our teams are looking for the co-accused,” said DSP HS Bal.
“Satwant, a soldier in the army, has been absent from duty for a long time. We will formally write to his seniors in Jalandhar for his verification. He went to the cafe to settle his friend’s issue but himself picked up a fight,” the DSP added.
Both Satwant and Udit were booked for attempt to murder and under the Arms Act at the Phase-8 police station.
Another police officer said that a cross FIR would be registered in the case on the basis of the videos, as the accused were also assaulted and suffered injuries.
When contacted about permissions regarding running food outlets late at night, Mohali deputy commissioner Aashika Jain said, “Though the state government has permitted eateries to operate at night,they cannot serve food outside their establishments. After we witnessed a large number of the eateries placing tables and chairs outside their shops, and creating ruckus at night, we, along with Mohali police, held meetings with the market associations and asked them to stop the practices and deploy security guards to avoid any untoward situation. Moreover, the Mohali SSP has increased night patrolling and himself checks the markets.”
