Teen resists abduction, addicts kill him

editorial@tribune.com

Charanjit Singh Teja
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, August 13

A teenager, who was allegedly kidnapped for ransom, was allegedly murdered by drug addicts in Verka here yesterday. The deceased has been identified as Prabhkeerat Singh (16) of Guru Nanakpura Verka. The police have arrested accused Vicky, Ajay, Deepu and Govind.

The accused were aware that Prabhkeerat’s parents were working in the Education Department and could pay ransom.

Kashmir Singh, uncle of the deceased, said around 6 pm, Prabhkeerat left home to play cricket. When he did not return till 8 pm, the family members started searching for him.

The family found his scooter parked nearby. Some of the youths found his body at the Fatehgarh Sukharchak canal gate. He was rushed to Fortis hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead.

Victim’s father Baljeet Singh said the accused were involved in drug trade and were also addicts. The accused confessed to have kidnapped Prabhkeerat to get ransom.

They said he resisted strongly in the car and tried to escape. While trying to overpower Prabhkeerat, the accused strangled him to death with a code. They then dumped his body into the canal and returned to the area.

Initially, the accused tried to mislead people, who were searching for him. When the people found the body from the canal, they escaped. Later, the police arrested them and recovered the car and code used for murder.

Prabhkeerat was a student of Class XI at DAV Public School. Police officials said he had no rivalry with the accused. A case of murder has been registered against them.