33-year-old who shot at Shimla man planned crime in advance: Cops

A day after Phase-1 police arrested a 33-year-old married man after he allegedly shot at a 26-year-old over “his friendship with a woman”, at a park near Madanpur Chowk in Phase-4 around 10.30 pm on Wednesday; police probe revealed that the accused was planning to kill the victim for the past few months.

Cops recovered a country-made pistol from the accused Karan Sharma besides eight live cartridges. The accused had brought the illegal weapon from Uttar Pradesh for murdering the victim, Shubham Dogra, 26, a native of Shimla. Police officials have also recovered a Royal Enfield Bullet bike from the accused.

Sharma, a native of Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh, and currently a resident of Dhanas, was arrested from Himachal and booked under the Section 109 (attempt-to-murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), besides relevant sections of Arms Act at the Phase-1 Police Station.

He worked at a BPO company in the Mohali Industrial Area where he had met a woman. On Wednesday night around 10.15 pm, he saw the woman sitting with Dogra in a park.

Dogra worked in another firm near the same area while his sister works at the same company as the woman, police said.

Police said despite being married, Sharma wanted to get into a relationship with the said woman who had refused his friendship citing that she was already in a relationship with the victim. As per police, Sharma got into an altercation with the victim and fired two shots at him, hitting him between the neck and the shoulder.

Dogra was rushed to Civil Hospital, Phase-6, Mohali, and later referred to PGIMER, Chandigarh, where he is undergoing treatment and remains critical due to excessive bleeding.

The accused fled the scene soon after the incident but was later nabbed by a team led by inspector Sukhbir Singh, station house officer (SHO), Phase-1 Police Station.

“Acting swiftly, our police team arrested the accused within 12 hours from Himachal Pradesh using human and technical intelligence. We have recovered the weapon and will investigate the source from where he got the illegal weapon. Karan had been threatening the girl for a long time and pressured the woman to end the relationship with the victim,” ASP Jayant Puri said.

The case was registered based on the victim’s sister’s complaint. Cops said that as per initial investigation, he had no prior cases against the accused.