15 murders reported in Mohali district in just 6 months

Other unsolved cases include that of an unidentified two-and-a-half-year old girl whose body was found in the Ghaggar near Twana village on June 30. Her autopsy report showed that she was strangulated and thrown into the river.

In another case, Anil, a cattle-caretaker, was found stabbed to death in Bassi Jalalpur village near Lalru on June 5. The body of an unidentified woman was found in the fields near the Zirakpur-Patiala road on February 20.

“Many of the murders have resulted from minor skirmishes or drunken brawls between friends which later turned ugly. In Phase 8, for instance, a labourer was stabbed to death on May 31 by his former friends simply because he had sold off their cart in their absence. We’ve managed to crack a majority of the cases and are working hard on the others,” said SSP Inder Mohan Singh Bhatti.

In a similar case, Pradeep Kumar, a youth from Balongi, was stabbed to death by his neighbours in a park in Phase 1 on June 7 because he had an altercation with them on the rooftop the night before when some beer had accidentally spilled onto him.

Recently, on June 23, a drunken brawl between some policemen, who were long-time friends, turned ugly resulting in the death of a constable’s brother. Even in the case of Gurjant Singh, who was murdered on Monday, the victim was a friend of the alleged assailants from his college days but things took an ugly turn after they quarrelled in April.

Also, the cattle-caretaker in Bassi Jalalpur was allegedly stabbed by his fellow worker who is on the run. In another curious case, a married woman in January is alleged to have asked her paramour, who came to meet her, to hide in a trunk in her house in Kharar after which she locked it, causing his death.

It is not only the murders which have witnessed an increase. As compared to 22 cases of kidnapping last year, 44 have already been reported this year. The abduction cases have also seen a rise from 9 incidents last year to 16 so far this year.  Similarly, 17 attempt-to-murder cases have been registered so far this year as compared to 16 in the whole of  last year. Four dacoities have been reported this year while there was only one dacoity last year.

A senior police official said, “There are multiple factors for the increase in crime. Every year, the district witnesses a huge influx of migrants, students and people from other areas due to its proximity to Chandigarh. Also, inter-state gangs find it easier to operate in this region as it is a border district. Shortage of police personnel is a major problem here. In Chandigarh, the police strength is about 5,700 while it is only about 1,500 here even though it is a large district, both area-wise and population-wise.”