35-year-old man dies of gunshot in Mohali hotel

Tribune News Service

Mohali, December 16

A 35-year-old man died after receiving a bullet injury in a room at a local hotel in Phase 11 here.

The victim has been identified as Sarabjit Singh, a resident of Koomkalan village in Ludhiana. Though the victim’s father, Harpal Singh, told the police that it was an accidental firing, the police have booked five persons, including two staff members of Hotel Crownwest where the incident occurred around 2.30 am today, in the matter.

While three suspects, Jaskirat Singh, Ravinder Singh and Gurpiar Singh, all residents of Kokri Behinwal village in Ludhiana, were “friends” of the victim, the remaining two, Parveen and Kumar, are employees of the hotel.

The victim, a businessman, received a bullet injury on his shoulder. “The bullet travelled towards the heart and got stuck near it,” said the police. According to Inspector Gurpreet Singh, SHO of the Phase 11 police station, staff members of the hotel destroyed evidence by cleaning blood stains from the spot. “They (the hotel staff) not only kept the police in the dark by not informing us about the incident, but also cleaned the room in which the incident occurred. We got to know about the incident from the PGI, where the victim was taken after the incident,” said Gurpreet Singh.

Earlier, the victim, along with his friends, had come to see a musical night show by a Punjabi singer in Mohali last night and booked a room there.

According to a staff member of the hotel, one of the friends of the victim was staying in the hotel for the past around 20 days. “They booked one more room after some days. Yesterday, one of them again asked us for another room,” said the staff member on condition of anonymity.

He claimed that the incident occurred around 2.30 am today. “Nobody heard any gunshot here. Today, while taking the victim out of the hotel, his friends told us that he had fallen in the washroom and sustained injuries. We came to know about the incident from the police, who came here this morning,” claimed the hotel staff member.

Talking to Chandigarh Tribune, the SHO said that all suspects were on the run after the incident. “We are investigating whether it was an accidental firing or whether there was some foul play,” said Inspector Gurpreet Singh.

He said a case under Sections 304, 336, 148, 149, 201 and 120 B of the IPC and under the Arms Act had been registered against all five suspects.

“After a postmortem, the body was handed over to the family,” said the SHO.

Sarabjit Singh is survived by his wife and two kids.