Alcoholic opens indiscriminate firing, kills nephew, self

BATALA : A man in his sixties and said to be an alcoholic allegedly opened indiscriminate firing in his locality after he shot his 35-year-old nephew dead, and he later killed himself with his double-barrel gun at Marrianwal village of Batala sub-division of Gurdaspur district on Monday.

The incident took place in the noon and panicked residents made numerous calls to the local police which took more than an hour to reach the spot.

He fired more than a dozen rounds of bullets, the locals claimed.

Reports said Joginderpal, a drunkard, went to his nephew Ganesh Kumar, who lived in the adjoining house, and fired two bullets at him from a pointblank range. Ganesh, who ran a grocery shop in the village, died on the spot.

He returned from Batala on his motorcycle that he parked outside his shop. When residents rushed to the spot after hearing the sound of bullets, Joginderpal started firing indiscriminately. Then he went to his house and locked himself in a room and shot himself dead.

It was learnt that on Sunday night, Joginderpal quarreled with his son.

Ganesh intervened in the matter following which Joginderpal’s son left the house.

About a month back, Joginderpal’s wife died of a prolonged illness and he was blaming Ganesh for not helping him for her treatment.

Civil Lines station house officer (SHO) Amolakh Singh said they were recording the eyewitnesses’ statements following which a case will be registered in this regard.