TARN TARAN: A 20-year-old law student shot dead a female classmate inside a college classroom and then turned the gun on himself as others scattered in terror at Mai Bhago Law College in Tarn Taran on Monday. Both of them were in the first semester.The shooter, Prince Raj, is in an extremely critical condition. Victim Sandeep Kaur’s mother says Prince had been harassing her months and had proposed to her on Feb 8 during ‘Valentine Week’. She turned him down. Incensed, he brought a gun to college, say police.
A CCTV clip, shared widely on social media, shows 60 seconds of a classroom slowly coming to life on a Monday, and 30 seconds of horror.The clip begins at 9:16 am, when class had not yet begun, and students were moving around inside the room, chatting with each other. Sandeep is seen seated in the back benches with a friend. Prince is seen approaching them and sits near them. Some conversation takes place. There is nothing to indicate the macabre turn of events. Prince stands up with his back to the camera and is seen rummaging through his backpack.He turns around, pistol in hand, jams the pistol barrel right against Sandeep’s head and shoots her. She slumps on the bench and then half-slides to the floor. Her friend, who was chatting with her just a moment ago, instinctively reaches out to grab her. The very moment, Prince takes a step aside and shoots himself in the head.The classmate, stunned, runs back, steps forward again to help Sandeep, and then retreats in panic. The other students too are seeing running for the exit. The video cuts with both bodies lying motionless — the woman slumped from a desk and the man crumpled in the aisle in the now deserted classroom.Both students were taken to hospital where Sandeep was declared dead on arrival. Doctors are trying to save Prince’s life. Till late Monday, there were conflicting reports regarding his condition. Nachhattar Singh, sarpanch of Prince’s native village, Mallian (100km from Ludhiana), said he had died while police said he was critical.Senior SP Surendra Lamba said they are examining CCTV footage and taking down statements of students and faculty members. “All possible angles are being examined,” the SSP said, adding that they are trying to find out how Prince got his hands on a gun – whether it was licenced to his father, who is serving in Army, or Prince bought it illegally.Nachhattar said Prince’s father had left to rejoin duty 15-20 days ago and he was living with his mother at the time of the incident.Sandeep’s mother, who lives in Naushera Pannuan, on the outskirts of Tarn Taran Sahib, said that Prince had been harassing her daughter and even threatened her. She said he had come to their house twice, pressuring Sandeep to speak to him. “He threatened that if my daughter did not talk to him, he would shoot her,” she said. According to her, he again approached her daughter with a proposal on Monday, and when she did not respond, he shot her.
