Amritsar youth shot in ‘accidental firing’ by ASI succumbs

Amritsar, October 20

A day after Ankush Sood, alias Raju, a worker at a mobile phone shop, who was critically injured in an ‘accidental fire’ from the service revolver of an ASI in Liberty market here on Wednesday, succumbed to gunshot injury at a private hospital on Thursday.

His family members held a demonstration against the police department outside the hospital on the main GT road and demanded strict action against the cop and another youth accompanying him at that time.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Varinder Singh Khosa said the police had arrested the suspect, identified as ASI Harbhajan Singh, posted at the Lawrence Road police chowki here. He said the role of the youth, Jashanpreet, accompanying him for buying a cellphone was being ascertained, though he was not nominated in the FIR as yet.

Earlier, ASI Harbhajan Singh was booked for attempt to murder on the statement of a relative of the victim, but now the FIR was being amended by adding sections of murder to it, said Khosa, adding that the ASI was immediately suspended following the incident.

Aman Kumar, a resident of Dayanand Nagar on the Lawrence Road, told the police that he along with his aunt’s son Gaurav Sood, Ankush Sood, Vikrant Verma and Neeraj Mahajan ran a mobile sale/purchase and repair shop at Liberty Market. He said as a matter of routine they were present at the shop when the ASI along with his ‘son’ came to the shop and asked them to show some mobile phones as they wanted to procure a new one.

The ASI told them he would pay for the mobile phone later on. Aman said the ASI had earlier too taken a mobile phone worth Rs 8,000 from the shop, but did not make the payment. He alleged the accused said he would not pay the amount as they demanded the previous payment.

In the FIR, he stated that in the meantime his son asked them to show them mobile phones. The ASI took out his revolver from his uniform and put it on the counter and later pointed it at him and Ankush Sood. He said he allegedly fired a shot which hit Ankush’s chest leaving him critically injured. He was rushed to a private hospital for treatment.

Khosa said as per a preliminary probe, the youth, Jashanpreet Singh, was neither his son nor a Punjab Police employee. As far as the allegation of his stealing a mobile phone from the shop during the instance was concerned, he said it was being verified and appropriate action would be taken against him if he was found guilty.