LUCKNOW: Brazen killing of a woman patient, Laxmina, 55, at a point-blank range in a private hospital of Chandauli district sent shock waves across the state on Monday.
The shooter was caught by the locals in Chandauli, little knowing that he had previously executed two killings, both being passengers on board two different trains in the last 26 hours.
The accused, when interrogated after being handed over to the Chandauli police by the locals, revealed that he was Gurupreet Singh, an ex-serviceman with two firearms and explicit instincts of a psychopathic killer.
He shot and killed Mangru (34) of Ghazipur, onboard PDDU-Tadighat Passenger train on May 10 and Dinesh Shah (42), of Gaya, onboard Kolkata-Jammu Tawi Express on May 11.
All three incidents took place within a periphery of 20-25 km around Varanasi.
According to DIG Varanasi range, Vaibhav Krishna, the ongoing interrogation by the Chandauli police, Government Railway Police (GRP) and other agencies, revealed that the arrested accused Gurupreet Singh hails from Taran Taran Amritsar in Punjab.
He was a soldier in the army until 2021, and one revolver and one sawed-off double-barreled gun were recovered from his possession by the cops.
SP GRP Prashant Verma reached Chandauli to monitor the investigation.
As per the highly placed police sources, the investigator noticed that he seemed mentally disturbed due to alcoholism. He was also turning aggressive now and then during the interrogation.
He admitted to having killed three people randomly without any reason, officials said.
As per the cops, he left Punjab for the Ara district in Bihar to join as a security guard on April 29, although the killer could not specify the firm name where he had to go.
After staying in Ara, he left for Prayagraj on May 9 by train.
On reaching Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction (erstwhile Mughalsarai) in Chandauli district, he boarded the PDDU-Tadighat passenger train in the morning.
When the train was crossing the Alinagar area, Gurupreet indulged in a verbal spat with one Mangru. The heated argument led Gurpreet to shoot Mangru at point-blank range.
Gurupreet confessed to having thrown Mangru’s body on the railway tracks. Amidst chaos in the coach due to the firing, he jumped off the train when it slowed down before reaching the Sakaldiha area.
However, before they could find any clue about the killer, Gurpreet allegedly boarded the S-2 coach of the 13151 Kolkata-Jammu-Tawi Express train in which Dinesh Shah was travelling in the general compartment to Naimisharayan for pilgrimage along with his sister, two children and his sister's mother-in-law.
"Immediately after the train departed Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction around 1.35 am on Sunday and passed through Block Hut-B, Gurpreet shot Shah near the toilet of the coach," said the officials.
Frightened passengers, who heard the gunshot, informed the running GRP staff. When the train reached Varanasi Junction around 2.42 am, the GRP recovered the body and started legal formalities, including evidence collection.
DIG Vaibhav Krishna said that after running away from the Kolkata-Jammu Tawi Express train, Gurupreet wandered around on foot and reached Jeevak hospital in Kamalapur under Alinagar police station in Chandauli early on Monday morning.
He registered himself as a patient, disclosing his name as Virendra (45). He also consulted an available doctor who prescribed four different tablets and a syrup to him. The police recovered the slip from his possession.
Later, under the pretext of treatment, he reached the ward located on the upper floor of the hospital. As per the eyewitness account, on reaching there, Gurupreet targeted a woman patient from point-blank range and fired.
After killing Laxmina, a patient with a fractured leg, he fled the scene.
Before exiting the hospital, he fired once again. On seeing him trying to board a motorcycle, an onlooker caught him after a hot chase. The cops arrived and rescued him from the clutches of an angry mob of locals.
"While being taken for a crime scene recreation near Kuchhman railway station under Sakaldiha police station in Chandauli district, the 'psycho killer' Gurmeet tried to escape after snatching the firearm of policemen," DIG, Varanasi range, Vaibhav Krishna said.
He fired at the police on Monday night. In a retaliatory firing by the police, he suffered a bullet injury and died later.
