High drama as Gurdaspur ex-serviceman kills wife, her mother with AK-47, ends life

High drama prevailed here early this morning as nearly 200 police personnel cordoned off Improvement Trust Colony No. 7 after a retired Army employee, who was working at the Gurdaspur district jail, allegedly threatened to go on a shooting spree in the heavily populated area using an AK-47 rifle he “stole” from the prison.

The ex-serviceman, Gurpreet Singh, allegedly shot himself dead even as police officials tried to convince him to surrender. Gurpreet late last night allegedly shot dead his wife Akvinder Kaur and mother-in-law Gurjit Kaur with the rifle at Khuthi village in Dorangla over a marital dispute. After the killings, he is learnt to have headed to the colony to hide in a flat.

The police received information in the morning that a person carrying an AK-47 rifle was “all set to go on a shooting spree”. A large number of police personnel, led by SSP Aditya, soon reached the spot and surrounded the flat in which the accused was hiding.

The SSP opened negotiations with Gurpreet and tried to convince him to surrender. The accused initially hesitated to negotiate. There was silence for nearly two minutes even as senior officials were discussing the next steps to be taken. Suddenly, a gunshot was heard, which made the police personnel assume Gurpreet had died by suicide. As some of the policemen went to check, he was found to be sitting on the staircase of a building.

It emerged that the gunshot had been inadvertently fired by a police officer, following which the SSP gave him a dressing-down. Finally, when the SSP opened the second round of negotiations, the accused loaded his weapon and threatened to fire. It took all the persuasion powers of the police officials to calm him down.

Minutes later, another high-decibel noise was heard. This time, the accused had allegedly shot himself. The police said they were investigating the reason why he allegedly murdered his wife and mother-in-law. “Prima facie, it appears he had a dispute with his wife,” said the SSP.