Birthday celebration takes ugly turn, 1 shot dead

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 30

A birthday party turned tragic when a youth was allegedly killed after suffering gunshot injuries in Anand Vihar locality on Jhabal Road here late on Monday evening. According to the police, two others were also injured in the incident.

How it happened

Sonia, sister of the deceased, said Saurav (in pic left) got a call from his friend Vivek on his wife's mobile. He invited him to come to Amritsar as they were going to attend a birthday celebration of Mandeep Singh, alias Mandy. She said Saurav reached Amritsar late in the evening and around 12 midnight, they got the information about his death. Interestingly, Saurav had returned to Hoshiarpur on Monday only after there staying for two days. He was a wholesaler of fruits and vegetables.

As per eyewitnesses and family members of the deceased, identified as Saurav Kumar (26), a resident of Hoshiarpur district, the youth participating in the birthday celebration indulged in indiscriminate firing. He suffered three bullet injuries that led to his death.

Though the police said the youth were firing in the air, the family members alleged that he was murdered. The Gate Hakima police have booked five persons on murder charges claiming that further investigations were on and the cause behind the incident was yet to be ascertained.

Sonia, sister of the deceased, said Saurav got a call from his friend Vivek on his wife’s mobile. He invited him to come to Amritsar as they were going to attend a birthday celebrations of Mandeep Singh, alias Mandy. She said Saurav reached Amritsar late in the evening and later around 12 midnight, they got the information about his death.

Interestingly, Saurav had returned to Hoshiarpur on Monday only after staying for two days here. He was a wholesaler of fruits and vegetables.

Following the incident, senior police officials reached the spot and carried out investigations.

Paramvir Singh, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Central), said the police have booked five persons — Mandeep Singh, Vivek, Rahul, Prince and Raghu — on charge of murder. All accused were absconding and would be arrested soon. He said the residence where the incident occurred belonged to Mandeep Singh. This was his newly constructed house. He said as per preliminary probe, around 50 persons were present during the birthday celebrations of Mandeep Singh.

The incident led to panic among local residents due to indiscriminate firing. The police also recovered five bullet shells from the spot. It was alleged that some criminal elements were also present in the party when the incident took place.