Zirakpur, 28 December 2024: A 22-year-old man, Akashdeep Singh, lost his life in a fatal stabbing outside a liquor vend near Patiala-Zirakpur Chowk around 9 p.m. on Thursday. The incident, reportedly triggered by a dispute over “staring,” also left his friend injured.
Akashdeep, a Gurdaspur resident working as a security guard in Zirakpur, and his friend Rajwinder Singh, 29, had stopped at the liquor vend after dinner. “While we were standing outside, a group of around 12 men started staring at us. When Akashdeep questioned them, one of them introduced himself as Simu Lohgarh, a local don, and ordered his group to attack us,” Rajwinder said in his complaint to the police.
The attackers allegedly used sharp-edged weapons, leaving Akashdeep fatally injured. Bystanders rushed him to Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, where doctors declared him dead. Rajwinder, who sustained injuries trying to intervene, is undergoing treatment at a Dhakoli hospital.
Rajwinder recently returned from Saudi Arabia and was in Zirakpur searching for work. He shared a rented accommodation with Akashdeep at Aggarwal Estate.
Police have identified Simu of Lohgarh as the main accused and filed charges against him and 12 unidentified accomplices. They have been booked under several provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including Sections 103(1) (murder), 109 (attempt-to-murder), 190 (unlawful assembly), and 191(3) (rioting).
Investigations are ongoing as police search for the accused.
