Parking dispute leads to shooting near Samrala Chowk, none injured

Ludhiana: Another gunshot incident rocked Ludhiana. A group of miscreants fired twice near Samrala Chowk, targeting a person out to have paranthas late Sunday night. Fortunately, the man escaped unhurt. However, on his complaint, the Division No. 7 police have registered a case. It is alleged that the accused indulged in an argument with the friend of the complainant over moving his car away.The police have managed to identify one of the accused as Anmol Gaba of Karamsar Colony, Tibba Road, who is a realtor. Besides Gaba, the police have lodged an FIR against his 10 unidentified accomplices on the complaint of 24-year-old Nihal Rajput of Guru Arjun Dev Nagar, who is also a realtor. The police said that although both the victim and the accused were in the property business, the initial probe suggested that they did not know each other.Nihal Rajput said that he along with his friend Ankush had gone to Sodhi Dhaba near Samrala Chowk to have parathas at around 1:30am, while their another friend was already waiting for them outside the eatery. The accused were already present there, having arrived in two SUVs. Rajput added that his friend Ankush parked his car outside the dhaba and minutes later, the accused came to him and asked him to move away. Rajput added that Ankush's car was not even blocking the way; however, the accused argued with him."They were arguing with Ankush, but suddenly the accused started targeting me. One of the accused brandished a gun and pointed it towards me. I ran from there to save my life, but the accused chased me and fired two gunshots. Fortunately, the bullet missed the target. When people gathered at the spot, the accused escaped in their Hyundai Creta cars bearing registration numbers PB-10-JL-1999 and PB-91-R-9996. Later the police reached the spot," added Rajput.Upon asking if he knew any of the accused or had some rivalry with any of them, Rajput said, "I do not know any of the accused. However, I do suspect that the accused wanted to harm me and, therefore, deliberately fired gunshots targeting me when I was not even arguing with them. I suspect that someone had sent those miscreants to harm me, about which I have informed the police."Sub-inspector Sukhwinder Singh, the investigating officer from Division No. 7 police station, said, "The initial probe suggests that the complainant and the accused don't know each other. The police, after reaching the spot, recovered one .45 bore bullet shell from the spot. One accused has been identified as Anmol Gaba, whose house was raided. However, he is on the run. One more accused has been traced in Faridkot and the police are trying to catch him too."