Man shot at in Chandigarh’s Sector 28 market

A 30-year-old man was shot at while he was standing outside the shop where he works at the Sector 28C market in Chandgarh on Saturday evening.

A 30-year-old man was shot at while he was standing outside the shop where he works at the Sector 28C market in Chandgarh on Saturday evening.

The incident comes days after gangsters shot dead a Jind man at a parking lot in Sector 17.

Identified as Pappu, a resident of Daria, the victim in the present case was working as a driver with the owner of an alloys shop in the market.

Police have identified the accused as Sarvesh of Mohali and are trying to nab him. Sarvesh was opposed to his wife being on friendly terms with Pappu, which led to the crime, said sources.

Pappu was standing by the pillars in the market corridor after finishing his shift when Sarvesh pumped a bullet in his abdomen at point-blank range around 7:30pm.

The crime was recorded in a closed-circuit television camera (CCTV) installed outside a departmental shop next to HP Alloys store where Pappu worked.

The assailant can be seen approaching the victim on foot from the rear, then stepping in front of him and fleeing after shooting him. Only one bullet was fired.

Pappu was rushed to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education (PGIMER), where his condition is stated to be critical.

Shopkeepers alleged the assailant managed to escape even as a police control room (PCR) vehicle was present in the market. HT couldn’t verify this independently.

Gurpreet Singh, who owns HP Alloys where Pappu works, said: “I had hired Pappu about 10 days ago. He had told me that he used to work as a commercial driver before this.”

Singh said he was sitting in the shop when he heard a loud bang like that of a firecracker. “I then saw Pappu slumping outside the shop, after which we called the PCR,” he said.

Even as the Singh’s showroom did not have a functional CCTV camera, police were able to obtain the attacker’s image from footage recorded by cameras in adjacent shops.

Police said Pappu managed to tell them that Sarvesh had shot him. The image also matched with that of Sarvesh.

The assailant had threatened to kill Pappu earlier as well, said sources.

A case has been registered under Section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) besides the Arms Act at the Sector 26 police station. “Six teams have been dispatched to trace and arrest the accused,” said deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Charanjit Singh Virk.