Aditya Singh, a transporter by profession, was killed by three motorcycle-borne assailants on Tuesday when on his way to Holy Child School on Itki Road in an auto-rickshaw to submit his children’s tuition fees. The shooters overtook the vehicle and opened fire, in which Aditya took a bullet in the back which got stuck in his chest and the auto-rickshaw driver Anil Singh was injured in the leg.
Both were rushed to City Hospital in Pandra for medical treatment. The driver was released after basic treatment whereas Aditya was referred to Guru Nanak Hospital for better treatment, where he breathed his last. His body was sent to Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences later in the noon for post-mortem examination.
“Attempts had been made in the past on the victim’s life. The area is being searched for ascertaining the whereabouts of the culprits. We have almost identified the culprits and they will be apprehended soon,” stated Superintendent of Police (City) Kishor Kaushal.
The ghastly incident has rocked the capital while a breakthrough was still awaited in the murder of a land trader, Naresh Sahu who was gunned down outside his house in broad daylight. These two back to back daytime shootings causing damage to life in a span of five days are instigating questions over crime control in the city, and considering this police department is planning to plug the loopholes which allow such incidents to happen.
“Special orders have been issued today for a district-wise special drive to be conducted for the next 15 days with the motive of apprehending known criminals booked under various crime heads and are presently out of jail,” said Senior Superintendent of Police, Kuldeep Dwivedi.
The lacklustre patrolling system is often blamed for limited reach of law enforcement agencies but that will be a thing of the past, assured police officials. “We are going to introduce 20 PCR vans to our fleet of patrolling vehicles. They will be meant to cover those areas of the city which are yet to be covered wholly by our patrolling system and are exploited by criminals for committing crimes,” added the SSP.
He further added, “Failure in patrolling cannot be blamed for this incident in particular, but our officials do need to be more vigilant from now on. Initiatives like beat policing will be revived in full strength to ensure that criminals in the city are identified and kept under close watch.”