Retd ASI’s wife shot dead in Hoshiarpur

The wife of a retired Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) was reportedly shot dead under mysterious circumstances at Mehandwani Gujran village in the Garhshankar subdivision of Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district on Saturday morning, with three empty and four live pistol cartridges being recovered from the spot, the police said.

An FIR has been registered against two unidentified persons. According to the FIR, retired ASI Sham Lal told the police that his wife Rachna Devi (60) left home around 5 am for a nearby religious place, Kutiya Bhuriwale, as part of her daily routine. The couple’s son, Amandeep, soon received a call that his mother was lying unconscious near the shrine, and that firing of gunshots was heard.

Sham Lal and Amandeep rushed to the spot and found Rachna bleeding from a wound near her chest, below the left shoulder. She was rushed to the Civil Hospital where doctors declared her dead, as per the FIR. The police complaint also mentioned Sham Lal alleging that a youth sitting along the way to the shrine fired at his wife without provocation and fled on a motorcycle along with another assailant. He said in the FIR that she was hit by three bullets, and that it appeared to be a planned murder as two other women who passed earlier were not attacked.

However, Sham Lal gave a different statement while speaking to mediapersons. He claimed his family initially thought Rachna had collapsed due to dizziness and failed to realise she had sustained bullet injuries.

Amandeep claimed even the doctor on duty did not detect the bullet wounds at first. Believing it to be a case of vertigo, the family brought her body home.

However, after learning later that bullet shells were found at the spot and noticing injuries on her chest and pelvis, they took her back to the hospital. The family said they hadn’t received any threats and didn’t have enmity with anyone, leaving the motive unclear.

Senior police officials, including Hoshiarpur SP Parminder Singh Heer, Garhshankar DSP Daljit Singh Khakh, Garhshankar SHO Gagandeep Singh Sekhon and Binewal police post incharge Onkar Singh, reached the village and initiated an investigation. The SP confirmed that three empty shells and four unfired cartridges were recovered from the crime scene. He said efforts were on to arrest the accused.