'Woman shot dead at gurdwara in Patiala was alcohol addict'

PATIALA: A 32-year-old woman who was shot dead at Gurdwara Dukhniwaran Sahib in Patiala on Sunday night for allegedly consuming liquor inside the precincts of Gurdwara Sahib, was an alcohol addict.
She was allegedly shot dead by a devotee with his licensed pistol. The police have arrested the accused and recovered the weapon.
The deceased, identified as Parvinder Kaur of Patiala, was allegedly inebriated under the influence of liquor when the Gurdwara Sahib staff tried to stop her from consuming liquor while sitting near the Sarovar (reservoir) in the Gurdwara Sahib.
The police said that Parvinder allegedly tried to hit back at the staff but was immediately overpowered and taken to the Gurdwara manager to be further handed over to the police. The police claimed that meanwhile, a devotee identified as Nirmaljit Singh Saini of Patiala opened fire on Parvinder Kaur.
The accused opened five rounds of fire, of which four hit her and one had hit a Sewadar identified as Sagar Kumar of Patiala. The injured was hospitalised at government Rajindra Hospital Patiala and is out of danger, said police.
The incident, according to the police, took place at around 10pm on Sunday.
"We have arrested the accused Nirmaljit Singh under IPC sections including murder and the attempt to murder. The accused opened fire in the heat of the moment as he claimed his religious sentiments were hurt. The woman was living in Patiala at some PG, however we are tracing about her actual residence. So far, none of her family members have reached us. During preliminary investigation it has come to light that Parvinder Kaur was addicted to liquor and had also remained admitted for some time to a de-addiction center in the factory area of Patiala”, said SSP Varun Sharma.
SGPC member Jarnail Singh Kartarpur on Monday said that Parvinder Kaur was shot dead outside the Gurdwara Sahib complex while the cops were taking her away. He said that a number of sacrilege incidents in the past and government failure to provide any justice or reach any conclusion has filled anger among the Sikhs.
The accused was produced before the local court and sent to judicial custody for 14 days.
The body of the deceased woman Parvinder Kaur was hande over to the family members by late evening, according to the mortuary's medical staff, who also confirmed that a postmortem had been performed on her.