Haryana: Man murders sibling over job loss, greed, tension at home

Job loss caused by Covid-19, greed for property and domestic tension. This cocktail of reasons led to the murder of 26-year-old Ajit by his brother which rocked the city on Sunday.

It was on Saturday night that Satnam Singh, 29, had shot his younger brother dead with his licensed double-barrelled gun at Chunabhatti village in Chandimandir area of Panchkula. Shockingly, soon after the crime, Satnam took to Facebook and made a video confessing the crime while his brother slowly lost his life writhing in pain.

The accused, who was arrested on Sunday evening, has confessed to murdering his brother, say police officials. “The interrogation has revealed that the whole incident was probably a heat-of-the-moment crime. The accused was inebriated and lost his temper. The family had several issues which led to this. Both were unemployed, there were domestic tensions, including those related to money. The accused had wanted that whatever meager property they had be divided. He wanted a house for himself,” said ACP Raj Kumar.

The mother of the two had reportedly witnessed the crime and alerted her husband Pritam sitting in the next house. He had then rushed his son to the hospital but he was declared dead on arrival, says the FIR.

The FIR states that the brothers were unmarried and had a married sister. Both had lost their jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic, which had led to discord at home. Satnam, who used to be an ATM security guard, had a licensed gun which was issued to him in 2015. “He had only two rounds with which he shot his brother — one in the head and another in the back,” said Inspector Arvind Singh, SHO of Chandimandir Police station and investigating officer of the case.

Describing what led to the incident, their mother in the FIR explained, “It was around 9 pm on Saturday when Satnam had come home drunk. Ajit had asked him not to drink. Both left home after that. Satnam returned after an hour and locked his room from inside. As he is quite aggressive, I bolted his door from outside, but let him out on his repeated requests. After returning home, Ajit lay down on the bed around midnight, when Satnam suddenly brought out his gun and shot Ajit.”

While Satnam was drunk, no alcohol has been found in Ajit as per the post- mortem report.

Satnam was present in the court on Monday and was remanded in one-day police custody. He has been booked under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 25 of the Arms Act.

Body cremated, father says lost both his sons

Ajit’s body was given to the family on Monday and was cremated as per rituals, said his father Pritam Singh. He told The Indian Express, “The cremation has been done. We are glad Satnam was not present at the funeral. I had two sons on Saturday, now I have none.”

On getting a lawyer for Satnam, he said, “I do not know what to do. I will think about hiring a lawyer for Satnam after all rituals are complete.”

Police officials who interrogated Satnam said, “He regrets what has happened. He claimed he would have shot himself as well if he had any more rounds left.”

A Facebook video, confession of crime, the murder weapon as well as the rounds he shot have all been added to the list of concrete evidence of the crime.