Celebration gone wrong: 16-year-old shot during birthday party in Patna; friends flee after dropping him at hospital

PATNA: A 16-year-old boy, who was shot during an apparent celebratory firing during a birthday party at a lodge in Shri Krishnapuri police station area of the state capital late on Monday night, succumbed to his injury at a private hospital on Tuesday, said police.

Secretariat deputy superintendent of police-II, Saket Kumar, confirmed Rishu Kumar died in the morning during treatment. "We had received the information about the firing in the Gandhinagar locality around midnight. The bullet was fired during a birthday party in house number 54," he said.

Shri Krishnapuri station house officer (SHO) Pankaj Kumar told TOI that five-six teenagers had gathered on the terrace of the lodge for the birthday party late on Monday night, during which a bullet was fired from an unlicensed pistol. "The police suspect that one of the boys were engaged in celebratory firing, during which Rishu got shot in neck. His friends took him to a private hospital on Boring Canal Road, and fled. All of them are absconding. The family members of the victim have been informed about the incident. Further action will be taken on the basis of the statement of his family," SHO Kumar told TOI.

An empty bullet shell was recovered from the crime scene, according to police.