tarsem.deogan@hindustantimes.com
A second autopsy affirms the discredited police theory — that local landlord Sandeep Singh Mangat (45) shot down his wife, daughter, and mother in that order before killing himself.
The crime happened at BRS Nagar here on Friday and the second post-mortem examination at Faridkot’s Baba Farid Medical College on Sunday. The first analysis at Ludhiana’s civil hospital on Saturday had revealed cuts on the bodies. Also, the bullets recovered from the body of Mangat’s wife, Aman Kaur (42), were not from the.315-bore rifle recovered from the spot. That mystery was solved on Sunday.
“We recovered the second murder weapon, a .32-bore revolver, from under a cabinet in the first-floor bedroom of Mangat’s daughter, Dilnaz Kaur (17),” said police commissioner Jatinder Singh Aulukh. “It proves our theory that Mangat killed himself after family.”
“Mangat first shot his wife with the .32-bore revolver when she was asleep. He then went upstairs to shoot his daughter but, woken up by the noise, she put up a fight. In their scuffle — hair recovered from the spot are evidence of which — the revolver dropped out of his hands and landed under the cabinet. Mangat then took out his .315-bore rifle from the safe and shot his daughter in the head and chest. He then went downstairs and shot his mother, Bachan Kaur (70),” said the police commissioner.
Out of four rounds fired from the revolver, two are still stuck in the barrel, and these match with those recovered from the body of Aman Kaur, says the second autopsy report. “The cuts on the bodies are signs of struggle by the daughter. The bullets recovered from the bodies of Mangat’s wife and daughter are from the rifle. The blasting effect on the skin proves it and explains the other injuries,” said Aulakh.
In the second search of Mangat’s house in the presence of his father-in-law, Balbir Singh, police also recovered `7 lakh cash and jewellery, besides some documents that they handed over to Balbir Singh after he was able to explain those.
Maid sticks to statement
Puzzled by the first autopsy report, police questioned Mangat’s maid, Pinky (14), again but she stuck to her statement. “Bhaiyya (brother, as she used to address Mangat), used to allow no one into his room,” she told cops. “I never snooped on the family’s conversations and kept to my room when I was over with my work.”
