Ex-serviceman guns down wife

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana July 22

An ex-serviceman allegedly killed his wife with his licensed double-barrel gun at Jassian village, Haibowal, on Sunday.

The accused is reportedly suffering from some serious health issues, due to which he was under depression.

After the neighbours heard the gun shot sound, they arrived to inquire and found that the woman was lying in a pool of blood. She was immediately rushed to the Civil Hospital, where she was declared dead by doctors.

The deceased has been identified as Baljit Kaur (55), while her husband has been identified as Darshan Lal (60).

The ex-serviceman did not escape after killing his wife and when the police arrived, he was taken in custody.

ACP (West) Gurpreet Singh said Darshan Lal got voluntary retirement about four years ago. Due to some serious kidney problem, he was undergoing dialysis twice a week. He had four daughters and a son, who is the youngest among the siblings. Two of the daughters are married.

On Sunday morning, he asked his wife to give him his gun, as he wanted to clean it. Initially, his wife did not agree to hand him over the gun on the pretext that he was facing serious health issues and he could not handle the same. After his insistence, his wife handed him over the gun and went to the kitchen to do household chores.

“After cleaning his gun, Darshan went to the kitchen and aimed at his wife from close range. The bullet hit the woman and she fell down. The neighbours thought that some LPG cylinder had exploded at the ex-serviceman’s house. They immediately rushed inside the house to inquire and were stunned to see the woman lying in a pool of blood. They immediately took the woman to the hospital, but she was already dead,” the ACP said, adding that the accused was arrested and would be produced in court tomorrow.