Mohali, March 16 – A 35-year-old IT engineer was arrested for allegedly beating his neighbor to death over a parking dispute in Sector 66, Mohali. The accused, Maninder Pal Singh, alias Monty, had been absconding since Tuesday but was apprehended by the police on Sunday.
The victim, Abhishek Swarnkar, 39, a native of Bengal, was a national postdoctoral fellow at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Mohali. He lived in a rented house with his parents and had recently undergone a kidney transplant, requiring regular dialysis.
According to police, the altercation began around 8:30 p.m. when Swarnkar parked his bike in front of his house. Monty, who owned two cars, allegedly objected and confronted him. “An argument broke out, and in a fit of rage, the accused punched him in the chest. Swarnkar collapsed on the road and lost consciousness,” an officer said.
Monty then rushed the victim to a private hospital in Sector 62, hitting a parked vehicle on the way. Swarnkar succumbed during treatment.
An IISER official described Swarnkar as a promising researcher. “He was selected by the Union Department of Science and Technology to meet Nobel laureates in 2017,” the official said.
The accused has been booked under Section 105 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), which carries a punishment of life imprisonment or up to 10 years in jail, along with a fine.
