Ex-armyman shoots self after killing wife, mother-in-law in Punjab’s Gurdaspur

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An ex-serviceman shot himself dead with a rifle in Punjab’s Gurdaspur early on Wednesday hours after killing his wife, Akwinder Kaur, and mother-in-law, Gurjit Kaur, over a longstanding marital dispute, Hindustan Times reported.

Gurdaspur senior superintendent of police (SSP) Aditya rushed to the local Improvement Trust Colony No. 7 on the outskirts of the town with nearly 200 police personnel on being informed about the murders and the threat by Gurpreet Singh to go on a killing spree.

“Soon after he shot dead his wife and mother-in-law at their house in Khuthi village in Dorangla at 3am, police teams rushed to the spot. We cordoned off the nearby Improvement Trust Colony No. 7, where he was hiding after the attack. We wanted to ensure that the armed accused did not cause further damage in the populated locality,” Aditya was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

“We wanted to arrest him alive and I tried to convince him to surrender, but he shot himself,” the SSP added.

According to police sources, Gurpreet Singh, a resident of Dalia Ramanjan village in Gurdaspur district, was working as a security guard at the district jail and had taken his service rifle with him when he stormed into his wife’s parental home, where she had been living for the past few years.

“The marital dispute was pending in court”, the SSP said. According to the report, people familiar with the matter said Akwinder was staying with her mother since Gurpreet used to harass and threaten her.