Student shot dead over money dispute

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, February 10

A Class XII student of St Xavier’s School, Raminder Singh (18), was shot dead on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday around 2 am at Mehna Chowk area in the city.

The police have claimed that the deceased was murdered by motorcycle mechanic Lalit Kumar, a resident of Nai Basti, as the latter had a dispute with Raminder over money regarding motorcycle repair.

Kotwali police station SHO Davinder Singh said Lalit had fired from his licensed revolver. He first fired in air and shot Raminder the second time, which hit the latter’s stomach.

The police claimed that Raminder, along with his friend, was roaming around the city late in the night. The accused, Lalit, met them at Mehna Chowk and asked Raminder for money. He later opened fire on him.

After the incident, the accused fled from the spot. Raminder was taken to a private hospital by his friends, where he died on Sunday morning. Parents of the deceased got to know about the incident when the police called them around 7 am.

Raminder was staying with his paternal uncle, Gurnaib Singh, at Model Town phase 3, but had gone to celebrate Basant Panchmi with a friend on Saturday night. The Kotwali police have registered a case against the accused mechanic on the statement of the paternal uncle of the deceased. Raids are being conducted to nab the accused.

Gurnaib said Raminder was the son of this younger brother, Gurmeet Singh, a resident of Bhai Desa. Around 9 pm, Raminder’s friend Deepanshu called him to his house so that they could together celebrate Basant Panchmi on Sunday. After sometime, two of his friends came and took Raminder with them. He did not know what and how it all had happened. He stated that he received a call from the police around 7 pm, after which he reached the civil hospital.

The post-mortem examination of the deceased was conducted at the civil hospital on Sunday morning.