A novice transporter Manjit Singh, 25, was shot dead close to his house in Bansal Plaza under Chutia police station in a late night shootout on Monday while he was returning home in his car.
Ranchi police personnel collected CCTV footage from nearby establishments and are going through them for any signs of the culprits. Teams from Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and State Forensic Science laboratory (SFSl) also searched the crime scene and Manjit’s car on Tuesday morning for clues and fingerprints.
“We are looking into the case while considering every possibility. Family members of the deceased will be questioned in detail later when they are in a condition to talk to us,” stated Superintendent of Police (City) Kishore Kaushal.
Manjit was managing transport business established by his father Indrajeet Singh in Khalari where they were in the trade of shipping coal. He is survived by his father, mother Harjeet Kaur and siblings Ranjit Singh and lovely Singh.
Manjit and Ranjit (18 years) were returning home from Albert Ekka Chowk around 11:00 pm after a post-dinner ice cream run planned by the latter. On their way home, they were stopped by four assailants on two motorcycles who intercepted them, forced them to stop, merely 100 meters from their residence, by parking one motorcycle in front of the car and another on its right.
At this point of time, Ranjit was in the driver’s seat and Manjit in the passenger seat behind him. According to what Ranjit recounted before police officials, the shooter asked his elder brother to lower his window and fired a single shot from close range at his temple. Following this, Ranjit rushed to Gurunanak Hospital on Station Road where doctors declared Manjit brought dead.
Investigation in the case cannot be given a definitive direction though, due to lack of definitive evidence by far. No motorcycle can be seen in the CCTV footage collected as evidence in the case, sources said, contradicting the statement Ranjit gave to police.
Also, he initially had stated that Manjit was driving the car while he was sitting beside him. On checking the car and finding no blood spots on the front seats, he was questioned again, and thereafter he stated that he was the one driving the car and Manjit was sitting in the back seat.
“Prima facie, this murder points towards internal dispute, instead of criminals killing someone stranger to them,” a police official stated.