National-level hockey player, friend shot dead after brawl

Tribune News Service

Patiala, February 20

A national-level hockey player and his friend were shot dead following a brawl late Wednesday night. Amrik Singh (32) and Simranjit Singh Happy (34) were both employed with Punjab State Power Corporation Limited. Amrik Singh played for Punjab three years ago. According to eyewitnesses, the two were drunk and were sitting at an eatery when a man and his teenaged son arrived there and ordered food.

The players entered into an altercation with the teenager and allegedly passed lewd remarks. “When the father, who was waiting outside, intervened, the two thrashed him as well as his son”, the eatery owner told the police. After the brawl, the father and the son left. “Later, at around 11 pm, unidentified men on two bikes opened fire at Amrik Singh and Simranjit Singh from a double-barrelled rifle. “The bullets hit their foreheads. The players died on the spot”, Patiala SP (investigation) Harmeet Singh Hundal said.