Barnala Youth Cong leader kills grandma, self after grandfather dies

BARNALA : Unable to bear the loss of his grandfather, a Youth Congress leader in Punjab ‘s Barnala shot dead his 65-year-old grandmother before killing self with a revolver on Sunday.

It is learnt that the 25-year-old Harmesh Mittal, district general secretary of Barnala, took the extreme step after his grandfather Hari Chand died of cancer on Sunday morning.

Mittal was living with his grandparents and the incident happened when people had started gathering at their house after the news of Hari Chand’s death spread.

As per doctors, both Mittal and his grandmother succumbed to gunshot wounds. “Mittal died soon after he was brought to hospital, while his grandmother, Krishna Devi, died 15 minutes after his death,” said Dr Jasvir Singh Aulakh.

According to the district Congress president Makhan Sharma, the victim was under stress since Saturday due to severe illness of his grandfather.

“He could not handle the death of his grandfather,” said Sharma.

Station house officer (SHO) Balwant Singh said that Mittal used his licensed weapon to kill his grandmother and self.

“We have registered a case under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC ) and Section 27 of Arms Act for Krishna Devi’s muder. For Harmesh Mittal’s death, we have initiated proceedings under section 174 of CRPC,” he said.