M A I N   N E W S

Body of missing Ludhiana youth found in Barog
Tribune Reporters

People outside the residence of Vikramjit Singh at Ludhiana on Wednesday. — Tribune photo by Inderjit Verma

Ludhiana/Chandigarh/Solan, July 5
The Punjab Police believes that Vikramjit Singh alias Vicky, the 22-year-old missing son of a Ludhiana-based industrialist, has been shot dead. A team of the Punjab Police, reacting to information from Himachal Police, visited the hill state today and confirmed that the unidentified body found near Barog on the Kalka-Shimla highway on June 29 was that of Vikramjit Singh, son of Rajinder Singh, owner of Ludhiana-based Frontier Cycles.

Vikramjit Singh had gone missing from his Model Town home in Ludhiana on June 27. His Honda Accord car (PB-10-BT-0775) was later found near Gurdwara Manji Sahib, Alamgir, on the outskirts of Ludhiana two days later. His family had received a call from Dubai and Karachi informing about the kidnapping. The police has denied that any ransom call was received.

Unfortunately, the Himachal Police had cremated the body as unidentified on June 30 after getting a post-mortem conducted at the Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), Shimla, a day earlier. The post-mortem report suggests the killing was carried out by using a .32 bore weapon from point blank range. The police has indicated the involvement of an international gang in carrying out a contract killing.

Senior police officers confirmed that the body, according to the Himachal Police, bore injury marks on his private parts. This indicates a crime where revenge could have been the motive. The superintendent of police, Solan, Mr Gianeshwar Singh, said the body had started to decompose and it had two visible injury marks on the head. During post-mortem two bullets were recovered from the head.

Mr Gianeshwar Singh added that a spot examination of the area showed that the killing had been executed elsewhere and the body was merely dumped along the roadside. It was detected lying about 10-15 metres off the busy National Highway. The section of the highway has five patrol vehicles which had failed to discover the body that was detected by passing school-children on June 29.

According to family sources, Vicky had returned home on June 9 after the completion of his BBA degree from England, before going missing on June 27.

Meanwhile, DIG Ludhiana Range, Mr Parag Jain said, “There were injuries on his body parts, which indicated murder due to some personal enmity”.

Mr Jain, in a reply to a pointed question about the identity of the body said, “As per the details available till now, the body seems to be of the missing Ludhiana youth”. The police further confirmed that no identification was found on the person of the deceased leaving the Himachal Police with no choice but to cremate the body after a post-mortem examination. Initially, the Solan police had conducted proceeding under Section 174 of the CrPC as per the standard practice in the recovery of unidentified bodies. However, they contacted the Punjab police after reading an advertisement in the newspaper yesterday about the missing youth.

A team of the Ludhiana police led by a DSP rushed to the hill station late last night. Mr Jain said the team had matched the particulars like clothes. The family members identified the belongings. Vicky was wearing blue jean and a pink T-shirt when he went missing; the same had been preserved by the Himachal Police. Though the father of the deceased had some doubts initially, but once he saw the clothes of his son and the pictures taken by the Solan police, he confirmed that the body was that of his son.

Till last night, the police was working on several theories. Informed sources said the police had obtained some details about his personal life through the details of his mobile phone and by questioning his friends.