Four masked armed men barge into house, fire shots at youth

Four masked assailants barged into a house at Chak Lohat village near Machhiwara Sahib on Tuesday morning and shot at a 20-year-old youth, Jaspreet Singh. He suffered four to five bullet injuries and was rushed to a hospital in Ropar where his condition was stated to be critical.

A land dispute was suspected to be the cause of the attack as suspected by the family and the police were exploring the angle to crack the case.

Tarunpreet Kaur, sister of Jaspreet, told mediapersons that on Tuesday morning around 9.30 am when everybody was present in the house, four masked men scaled the outer wall of the house and started firing. The assailants mainly came to target her brother Jaspreet. Though she, her parents and brother went inside the room for safety, the suspects broke the door and fired at Jaspreet.

“Me and other family members came in front of the youth to save him but the assailants did not fire at any of the other family members, they were only shooting at my brother. As we raised the alarm, the assailants opened the gate and fled the scene in a car,” she said.

Tarunpreet said her brother suffered bullet injuries on his stomach and back. They were not having any enmity with anyone, still, they could not understand why they came to kill her brother.

Meanwhile, Khanna SSP Jyoti Yadav said the victim suffered four to five bullet injuries and was undergoing treatment at a hospital in Ropar. “The police have initiated investigation, several angles are being explored. Soon, the case will be cracked,” the SSP said.

When asked if the victim or his family received any threats from some criminal elements, Dr Yadav replied that so far, the family had not mentioned about any such threat.

DSP Tarlochan Singh said the police got some vital clues about the possible reason of the attack and they were working on various theories. Soon, the case would be solved with the arrest of suspects.

Meanwhile, police sources said the victim’s family had a land dispute within the family and it was being suspected that the assailants might be sent by persons with whom the family was having the dispute. The police had already started questioning the people having the land dispute with the victim’s family.