Adampur: Miscreants who came to set shop on fire get trapped, 1 dies

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, November 24

In a bizarre incident, miscreants who had allegedly come to set a bookshop in Adampur on fire in the wee hours today, themselves got trapped with one of them dying on the spot and the second sustaining severe burns on his lower body.

The incident occurred at 2.10 am when shopkeeper Harinder Dhupal of Krishna Book Depot was still working inside. The moment he saw a car stopping outside and three men trying to enter his premises, he sneaked away. The three miscreants entered the shop with fuel like petrol or gasoline and set it on fire. As they were coming out, one of them Pardeep Kumar (36) got hit by the shutter which went loose and came down on his face.

“He fell off outside the shop and died on the spot with severe injuries around his nose. The second one – Jatinder Singh (38) got trapped in the flames. Since there was a lot of inflammable material around, including books and papers, the shop caught fire very quickly. As he was coming out, his trouser caught fire and he sustained deep burns on his lower body. He is admitted in a private hospital and is in a critical condition,” Adampur ASP Ajay Gandhi said.

The third accused has been identified at Simranjit Singh (32), who managed to flee safely. The police officials said all three accused hail from Basti Bawa Khel area. “The shopkeeper has told us that he was not known to any of the three accused. Since he is running the shop on rent, we are also exploring the angle of any dispute with the owner, who is a resident of Gazipur area in Adampur. Even the tenant lives in Adampur. It, however, is clear that there was no court case between the two,” said Gandhi.

Post-mortem of the deceased has been conducted. The forensic experts had visited the site and had taken various samples, which have been sent to chemical laboratory. Even the shop got fully burnt, the police officials have ruled out the use of any explosives. A case under Sections 307, 436, 427 and 34 of the IPC has been registered at the Adampur police station.

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