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Sepoy on leave shot dead, brother-in-law among five held in Punjab’s Amritsar
The incident took place at around 9:30 pm on Monday when the victim had gone to his sister’s home in Thathian village
A 24-year-old sepoy was shot dead near Thathian village falling under the Baba Bakala sub-division of Amritsar, police said.
The deceased has been identified as Gursewak Singh of Tarn Taran.
The incident took place at around 9:30 pm on Monday when the victim had gone to Thathian village to visit his sister. Jandiala station house officer (SHO) Balwinder Singh said the deceased was posted in Uttarakhand.
Five people, including deceased brother-in-law Kawaljit Singh, and his four cousins Romanpreet Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Gurmehak Singh and Sandeep Singh have been arrested in the case, police said.
Police said initially the accused tried to mislead the police by concocting a story that two bike-borne men with their faces covered had shot the victim while he was returning with his brother-in-law.
The victim’s brother, Jodhbir Singh, said, “My brother had come on leave on May 17 and Monday was to be his last day of the leave. He had to return to his duty on Tuesday. On Monday evening, Gursewak went to Thathian village to meet our married sister. At around 7:30 pm, Gursewak and my sister’s husband went out somewhere. We were informed that at around 9:30 pm when the duo was returning home, two bike-borne men, with their covered faces, opened fire at my brother.”
The victim’s uncle Sahib Singh said, “We came to know about the incident at around 11:30 pm on Monday. Police have taken Gursewak’s brother-in-law in custody for questioning.”
Senior superintendent of police (SSP-rural) Satinder Singh said police rounded up the deceased’s brother-in-law on suspicion.
Upon questioning Gusewak’s brother-in-law, it came to the fore that the armyman and the accused were drinking at some place and the victim was shot during a scuffle, a police official said on the condition of anonymity.
The SSP-rural confirmed that five persons, including the deceased’s brother-in-law, Kawaljit Singh have been arrested. The other four accused are Kanwaljit’s cousin brothers—Romanpreet Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Gurmehak Singh and Sandeep Singh.
He said their teams are working to recover the weapon used in the crime and to ascertain the motive behind the crime.
A senior police official, who didn’t wish to be named, said, “Our preliminary investigation has found that the accused were drinking with Gursewak when a minor scuffle broke out. During the scuffle, one of the accused opened fire, and the bullet pierced the chest of Gursewak. He was rushed to a private hospital where he was declared brought dead.”
He said after Gursewak’s killing, the accused cooked up a story that he was shot dead by two unidentified bike-borne persons. “During the questioning of the accused, their statements mismatched, and they were arrested after they confessed to the crime,” the official quoted above added.
