Canadian Sikh man killed in scuffle outside Punjab's Anandpur Sahib
A Canadian Sikh man was killed, allegedly during a scuffle with locals in Punjab’s Mohali, police said on Tuesday.
As per reports, the victim, identified as 24-year-old Pradeep Singh was a permanent resident of Canada who had come to India in February earlier this year to visit the revered Anandpur Sahib in Ropar. The deceased was originally a resident of Gazikot Village in Gurdaspur, Punjab.
Reports said that Pradeep objected to some locals playing loud music outside the Anandpur Sahib during ongoing three-day Hola Mohalla festival. He got into an argument with the accused, Niranjan Singh, which quickly escalated and turned into a scuffle.
Pradeep reportedly sustained grievous injuries from a sharp-edged weapon and eventually succumbed while the accused was also wounded in the incident and is currently undergoing treatment PGI in Chandigarh.
An official said a police team has been stationed at PGI to take the accused under custody as soon as he is discharged from the hospital, adding that an FIR has been registered under Sections 302 (murder) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) at the Anandpur Sahib police station. He said that the police received information on Tuesday around 10.30 pm that a man named Pradeep Singh was killed during a brawl.
A senior police official said that Pradeep Singh had donned the traditional blue dress of the Nihangs at the time of the incident, however, he has not been found linked to any Nihang group so far.
The official said that the police were examining the viral videos of the incident to determine the cause that led to the scuffle, adding that an FIR has been registered and further investigation is ongoing.
Pradeep, an only child of his parents, had moved to Canada in 2016 and obtained permanent residency there. The deceased had come to his village a few months back to pay obeisance at the Anandpur Sahib.
The victim’s family has alleged that Pradeep was murdered by hooligans on his way to Mohali after he objected to them playing obscene music in their car in public. They claimed that Pradeep tried to reason with them but instead was attacked with sharp-edged weapons and died on the spot.
