Mohali: Hours after birthday bash, youth shoots himself

Mohali, June 8

Hours after his birthday celebrations with family, a Sector 67 youth was found dead in his car with a gunshot wound on his right temple around 6 am today. The deceased has been identified as Karanpal Sharma (21), a native of Ferozepur. The police said prima facie it seemed to be a suicide case. Nine bullets have been recovered from a pocket of the deceased.

Family members told the police that they had gone to a Kharar eatery last night to celebrate his birthday after which he left the place to meet his friends around 10 pm. When he did not return, the family called him up, to which he replied that he may get late. This morning, when the family members came out of the housing society, they saw a crowd near their car and came to know of their younger son’s death. The police said the deceased was found sitting in the driver’s seat with a gunshot injury on the temple. The bullet had pierced the skull and broken the rear left windowpane of the car.

The family members told the media that they did not own a firearm. The police are investigating from where he got the pistol. They are also verifying the phone call record of the deceased as the family members told them that he was getting frequent phone calls yesterday. The deceased used to assist his father Surinder Kumar in family business and had joined him in Mohali a year ago.

Mohali SSP Vivek S Soni said, “There is an entry wound of a bullet on the right side of his head. The pistol was recovered from his right hand.” He said a forensic team reached the spot and examined the scene of crime.

He said upon examination, the entry wound showed point-blank fire and also the right hand in which the weapon was found had tested positive for gunshot residue in preliminary tests by the team.

An FIR under Section 306 of the IPC has been registered on a statement of the deceased’s father.

Prima facie a case of suicide: Police

The police said prima facie it seemed to be a case of suicide. Family members told the media that they did not own a firearm. The police are investigating from where he got the pistol. They are also verifying the phone call record of the deceased as the family members told them that he was getting frequent phone calls on Tuesday.