Journalist K J Singh, his 92-year-old mother killed in Mohali

Senior journalist KJ Singh was found dead at his Mohali residence on Saturday  (Express photo by Jaipal Singh)

A senior journalist and his elderly mother were on Saturday found murdered at their home in Mohali. While Karan Jeet Singh, 66, was found with his throat slit and with multiple stab wounds on his body, his mother Gurcharan Kaur, 92, had been strangled.

Singh, KJ to friends and colleagues, had worked in senior positions at The Indian Express, The Times of India and The Tribune. After his retirement a decade ago, he had been working for a few online news portals.

Police said Singh’s sister Yashpal Kaur and nephew Ajaypal Singh had arrived around 1 pm at the Mohali house with food for Singh and Gurcharan Kaur, when they discovered the bodies. “They found the morning newspapers lying in the courtyard and the main door of the house open. They entered and found blood stains all over the walls and floor. They found the bodies of Singh and Gurcharan in two separate bedrooms,” Kuldeep Singh Chahal, Senior Superintendent of Police, Mohali, told The Indian Express.

Though Singh’s 20-year-old green Ford Ikon and a television from one of the rooms were missing, police have ruled out possibility of theft as the motive for the killing. Other expensive items, including a gold chain that Singh was wearing, his camera and laptop, were found intact.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by an IGP-rank officer to probe the murder.