Woman murdered, husband injured; robbed of car, jewellery

The Dehlon police have initiated a probe into an incident in which a woman, who was accompanied by her husband, a businessman from Ludhiana, was murdered by unidentified assailants armed with sharp weapons on the Dehlon bypass.

The incident occurred when the couple was returning home after attending a party at a resort in Pohir village on the Ludhiana-Malerkotla highway late on Saturday night.

While the car-borne assailants, reported to be around five, brutally attacked the woman, Manvi, alias Lipsey Mittal, after following her for a long distance, they hit her husband Anokh Mittal on his legs and made him smell something after which he fell unconscious. Later, the woman was rushed to a hospital in Ludhiana where she was declared brought dead.

According to Anokh Mittal, some unidentified miscreants had allegedly taken away their Maruti Ritz car, mobile and jewellery after attacking him and his wife when the couple stopped at a deserted place on the Dehlon bypass on the Ludhiana-Malerkotla highway late on Saturday night.

He said he could not recollect details of the incident as after attacking him, the assailants made him smell something due to which he fell unconscious.

Though the police are yet to ascertain exact sequence of events leading to the death of the woman, circumstantial evidence revealed the assailants had attacked her brutally. Afterwards, she ran for a long distance to save her life.

Assistant Commissioner Police (ACP) Harjinder Singh Gill claimed that a PCR team had reached the scene after receiving information about the incident from owner of a nearby dhaba after midnight.

“The Dehlon police and the PCR had acted promptly after receiving information and the woman

was rushed to a multispecialty hospital in Ludhiana,” he said.

Gill said a probe had been launched into the matter.

Preliminary investigations revealed that Anokh used to visit the Pohir resort for weekend parties with his family but his children did not accompany the couple on Saturday night.

Mittal is a renowned businessman dealing in storage batteries and had recently joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the presence of MLA Ashok Prashar. Earlier, he was closely associated with Bains brothers and former minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu. He has a huge fan following on social media.

The police have registered an FIR on the statement of the woman’s husband. Now, they are trying to find answer to some unanswered questions, including the reason behind the couple taking the deserted bypass route from Dehlon whereas most commuters pass through the town.

The CCTV footage of the resort at Pohir revealed that Anokh had used restrooms before starting his journey from the resort and after a couple of minutes, he stopped for urinating at a deserted place around midnight.

Meanwhile, friends and relatives of the deceased held a protest in Ludhiana to demand justice for

her and immediate arrest of the killers.