Man bludgeons co-worker to death in Mullanpur Dakha

Victim had allegedly hurled casteist slur at him; accused himself alerted the store owner, assuming that if he did so, police would not suspect his hand in the crime

A worker at a feed store in Mullanpur Dakha was arrested for bludgeoning his co-worker to death following a verbal spat on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.

Gurtej Kaur, the owner of fodder store, narrating the sequence of events in Mullanpur Dakha in Ludhiana on Saturday. (HT PHOTO)

The victim has been identified as Parkash Kumar, 44, who hailed from Uttar Pradesh and had been living in Ludhiana for the past 30 years.

The accused, identified as Manga, 38, of Badwar village of Barnala, himself raised an alarm and alerted the store owner, assuming that if he did so, police would not suspect him.

But as he kept changing his statements regarding the sequence of events, police grew suspicious. After repeated questioning, the accused confessed to killing Parkash with a wooden log after he allegedly hurled casteist slurs at him. Both were in an inebriated state at the time of the incident.

Inspector Prem Singh, Mullanpur Dakha station house officer, said that Manga initially told the police that four motorcycle-borne miscreants had struck at the store in the wee hour of Saturday and started assaulting him with sticks and iron rods. “He said that to escape the attack, he fled from the spot and on returning, he saw Parkash lying in a pool of blood,” said the inspector.

Police have recovered the murder weapon from the accused and booked him under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code.

Gurtej Kaur revealed that Parkash had been working at the store for the past 30 years. He was 13 years old when he had come to the village in search of job.