A man was killed, and his severed hand was left in a plastic bag at a grocery store in Punjab’s Ludhiana this morning. The victim has been identified as Shakti Singh alias Bhura, with the police suspecting that personal enmity could have led to his murder.
Before fleeing, the attackers told the shopkeeper to deliver the bag with the severed hand to the victim’s family.
On receiving information, a police team arrived at the scene and launched an investigation. They chopped Singh’s hand from the wrist, placed it in a polythene bag, and handed it over to a shopkeeper at a grocery shop in Satguru Nagar. Singh, a resident of Basant Nagar in Ludhiana, was rushed to a hospital but died during treatment. CCTV footage in the area is now being scanned to identify other attackers. Punjab has been witnessing a spate of violent crimes ahead of state elections due next year. Last week, an anti-drug activist was killed by a shop owner after he caught him selling drugs in the Mansa district. (With inputs from Sunil Kumar)
Singh had been facing 12 criminal cases, according to officials. Even the attackers have criminal records, with about 12 cases registered against each of them, they added. On Friday night, a 27-year-old man was shot dead outside his home after a dispute over moving a parked scooter in Amritsar.
The main accused, Gurmit Singh CD, has been arrested, said Ludhiana ACP Roop Deep Kaur. Around five to six men had barged into a house near Redu Sahib gurdwara and attacked Singh with swords and other sharp-edged weapons, officials said, adding that they also assaulted the house owner when he tried to intervene. Before fleeing, they even told the shopkeeper to deliver the bag with the severed hand to the victim’s family. Citing preliminary findings, an official said that the murder could be the fallout of a long-standing feud.
