MOHALI
: A Punjab deputy superintendent of police (DSP) has been booked for attempting to shoot his wife at their house here early on Sunday after reported arguments at a club party.
DSP Atul Soni is at present posted with 82nd Battalion of Punjab Armed Police (PAP) in Chandigarh. Phase VIII station house officer (SHO) sub-inspector Shivdeep Singh Brar said: "His wife, homemaker Sunita Soni, has stated in her police complaint that the family went to a Chandigarh club on Saturday evening, where the couple had an altercation before they came back around 2am by separate vehicles."
In her complaint, Sunita has claimed to be a regular victim of domestic violence, which includes mental torture. About the Saturday night sequence of events, she says: "Atul pushed me at the club party in Sector 26. I couldn't stand the public humiliation, so I drove back to my house in Sector 68, Mohali. He followed me in, thrashed me, and shot at me. Lucky for me that my son came in and made me duck the bullet."
The cop is on the run, but his wife says: "I am afraid that he will come back to kill me. We pray that he gets caught and stays in jail until the court decides a punishment." SHO Brar said: "After we got the complaint, we went to the officer's house and recovered the weapon, besides, an empty shell from the spot. Thereafter, we registered a case based on the statement of the DSP's wife, which we are verifying."
Sources in the police department said the shot fired from a country-made pistol crashed in through the door, and after the shooting, the cop went to sleep, while his wife rang up police. A case under the Arms Act and sections 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (punishment for causing injuries voluntarily) and 498-A (subjecting wife to cruelty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered at the Phase VIII police station.
TOI's attempts to seek the DSP's comments by mobile phone or text message were futile, since he was unavailable. Mohali's senior superintendent of police (SSP), K S Chahal, said: "It is a genuine complaint. We haven't arrested the officer yet." The DSP is untraced.