PIONEEREDGE NEWS SERVICE | Dehradun
At a time when ‘education hub’ Dehradun is witnessing a rise in hooliganism and violent crimes by students of higher educational institutions dotting the provisional State capital, the police arrested a student within 24 hours of a firing incident that took place outside a boys’ paying guest accomodation near Gangotri Boys Hostel in Premnagar on Sunday.
The police identified the accused as Ved Bharadwaj, a 21-year-old B Pharma third-year student at a private university in Premnagar. According to the police, two unidentified men opened fire outside the hostel on August 24. The hostel owner Sahil Grewal lodged a complaint after CCTV footage showed two men firing from a distance before fleeing.
A case was registered at Premnagar police station under Section 109/351(3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Arms Act. The four teams formed by the police to investigate the checked CCTV footage, questioned students and traced the suspects. Based on evidence, police arrested Ved Bharadwaj and recovered a country-made pistol, one live cartridge and one used cartridge from his possession, as per the officials. They claimed that during questioning, Bharadwaj admitted that he and his group, which included Vipul Pawar, had a dispute with another group led by Vaibhav Tiwari.
The conflict, which began before the summer vacation over influence inside the university escalated when the new session started. Bharadwaj said he fired near the hostel to intimidate the rival group. Police said that other students were also involved in the incident and that search operations are underway to arrest them.
A report has been sent to the concerned university for action against the arrested student, they added.
