School rivalry turns ugly, student's mother shot

“Investigations are on. Nothing, including the role of a girl, can be ruled out.” — Batala SSP

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Sri Hargobindpur, (Gurdaspur), March 18

Rivalry between two groups of students of a Qadian-based private school culminated in murder, leaving local residents shell-shocked. One of the groups, led by Class XI student Lakhwinder Singh, opened indiscriminate fire, resulting in the death of the mother of his rival late Tuesday night. Batala SSP Opinderjit Singh Ghuman and officials of the Sri Hargobindpur police station rushed to the crime scene.

Lakhwinder and his schoolmate Amarjit Singh had a long-standing rivalry. Alarmed, village elders intervened, asking the warring groups to cease hostilities. Both parties agreed to stop bad-mouthing each other within the school precincts and outside. But Lakhwinder and his friends later reneged from the pact and conspired to eliminate Amarjit.They reached Amarjit’s residence at Harchowal village and opened indiscriminate firing.

Sources said the firing continued for 10 minutes and 20 rounds were fired. Word on the incident spread in the village and an SOS was sent to the SSP by the village SHO. in the meantime, Lakhwinder and his group members fled.

After the firing stopped, panicky family members came out of their house. They found Amarjit’s mother, Jasbir Kaur, lying in a pool of blood. Amarjit’s father Niranjan Singh, uncle Partap Singh and aunt Narinder Kaur received bullet injuries and were rushed to the Batala Civil Hospital where doctors referred them to an Amritsar hospital.

A case under Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) has been registered. “A team under a DSP-rank officer has been constituted to trace the sequence of events leading to the crime. A few hideouts have been identified,” SSP Ghuman said.

“Investigations are on. Nothing, including the involvement of a girl, can be ruled out,” he added.