Techie attacks two roommates with knife after smoking row in Mohali flat

The victims, 23-year-old Shivam Moga, a resident of Sangrur, and Aarush Verma, an employee with a private finance firm from Shimla, had been sharing the apartment with the accused named Tomar

An argument over smoking inside a shared apartment turned violent after an Artificial Intelligence (AI) engineer allegedly attacked two roommates with a knife at a high-rise residential complex in Sector 86 in Mohali, on Wednesday evening, leaving both men with multiple injuries.

According to Moga, the assault followed a dispute over Tomar’s habit of smoking cigarettes inside the apartment. (HT File)

The accused, identified as Sapeksh Tomar, a native of Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, lived with the two victims in a three-bedroom flat on the fifth floor of Mohali Royal Towers. The victims, 23-year-old Shivam Moga, a resident of Sangrur, and Aarush Verma, an employee with a private finance firm from Shimla, had been sharing the apartment with Tomar.

According to the complaint filed by Moga, the three men had been living together for several months and shared the rent equally. Tomar, who worked from home as an AI engineer, had moved into the apartment around four months ago through a mutual reference.

The incident took place around 7.30 pm on Wednesday, when Moga was sitting in Verma’s room and working on his laptop. According to the complaint, Tomar entered the room carrying a knife and attacked Moga, slashing him on the neck.

The complaint states that Tomar then blocked the exit and continued assaulting the two men while abusing them and threatening to kill them. Moga and Verma suffered slash and puncture wounds on their necks and other parts of their bodies during the attack.

Moga eventually managed to push past Tomar and flee into the corridor, where he raised an alarm. Neighbours and other residents rushed towards the flat after hearing the commotion and helped the injured men before they were taken to a private hospital for treatment.

According to Moga, the assault followed a dispute over Tomar’s habit of smoking cigarettes inside the apartment. Moga and Verma had repeatedly objected to him smoking indoors and had asked him to stop. The complaint states that the issue had led to friction among the roommates before the confrontation on Wednesday.

After doctors declared the injured men fit to give statements, their accounts were recorded at the hospital. The case was registered at Sohana police station under Sections 109 (attempt to murder), 118(1) (voluntarily causing hurt with a dangerous weapon), 126(2) (wrongful restraint) and 351(2) (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.