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Ranchi, July 21: A 36-year-old convict released from jail recently was shot dead in the heart of the capital late this evening.
Uma Shanker Singh was killed in front of Guru Nanak Hospital, in the busy Station Road area, barely half a kilometre from Ranchi station around 8.20pm.
Singh, who had a criminal background, was released from Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi about four months ago. He was convicted in two murder cases, including the killing of a forest official, city police sources said.
According to eyewitnesses, four or five youths, all in their early 20s, fired indiscriminately on Singh who was seated in a SUV parked outside the hospital. Singh’s father is undergoing treatment at the hospital’s intensive care unit.
Police recovered as many as 15-20 cartridges, apparently fired from 9mm pistols, while at least eight bullets hit the victim’s chest. The deceased’s body was sent to Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences for post-mortem.
Senior superintendent of police Saket Kumar Singh confirmed the incident.
“We are on the trail of the murderers and trying to figure out the motive. But it seems a result of rivalry between criminal gangs,” said the district police chief.
Sources also said the killing of Singh was the result of an ongoing gang war between different factions of goons who are trying to prove their supremacy.
City superintendent of police Vipul Shukla rushed to the spot. Incidentally, the deceased happens to be the son of a retired police sub-inspector, Sudarshan Singh.
Guru Nanak Hospital secretary G.S. Sethi said state tourism minister Bimla Pradhan had visited the hospital to see a relative in the evening. “The incident took place a few minutes after she left the hospital premises,” he said.
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