Diwali celebrations turned sour as a teenager was shot dead at Tuiladungri under Golmuri police station area in the wee hours on Friday. The victim was identified as Ranjan Singh (18). The victim was sleeping on a platform near his house on line No 1 Tuiladungri in Golmuri when the assailant shot him.
The assailant identified as Rajan Thathera (25) has already been arrested. The police have also recovered the pistol the assailant had used in the murder.
Sources informed that an affair between Ranjan and the assailant's sister-in-law led to the murder. Ranjan used to work under a car-washing centre near RD Tata School in Golmuri.
"The love affair with a girl led to the murder. We came to know that two days ago, the girl's brother-in-law Rajan Thathera had a fight with Ranjan over the affair. Thathera had asked Ranjan to stop meeting with his sister-in-law any more, otherwise he will teach him a lesson. This might have led to the murder," said a relative.
Officer-in-charge, Golmuri police station, Nehaluddin Khan said that the investigation was however, as per the initiatial investigation the assailant came on a bike and soon vanished after the murder.
"As the news spread a patrolling party which was at a little distance away from the scene of murder had raided the house of Thathera and nabbed him with the pistol within 15 minutes of the murder," said Khan.
The officer-in-charge said the pistol that the assailant had used country made gun. He said the police recovered a .315 bore empty cartridge from the place of occurrence.
According to Khan, the assailant who had already a crime record with the Golmuri police station had wanted to stop Ranjan from going further ahead with his affair. Out of range he shot dead the youth.