Unidentified assailants shot dead a 27-year-old wrestler outside his residence in Punjab's Kapurthala district on Sunday evening as Diwali celebrations echoed across the neighbourhood.
Police identified the victim as Mani, widely known across regional wrestling circuits as 'Pahalwan', a resident of Mohalla Mehtabgarh. The attack struck at roughly 7:30 pm while Mani stood on the street outside his doorstep bursting festive firecrackers. Assailants opened fire at close range, inflicting fatal gunshot trauma to his chest before escaping into the surrounding lanes. Family members scrambled him to a nearby civil hospital, where attending doctors pronounced him brought dead.
The strike was sudden and lethal.
Hearing the commotion, neighbours and relatives rushed out into the smoke-filled alleyway to find the young athlete collapsed on the pavement. Mani, who had recently married, leaves behind his wife, his father, Bagga, and four sisters. His father maintained that the family harboured no prior enmities or known feuds with anyone in the locality.
Kapurthala Police dispatched immediate patrol units to the scene following emergency calls reporting gunfire in Mohalla Mehtabgarh. Officers cordoned off the perimeter, documented the crime scene, and initiated forensic sweeps to recover spent cartridges and physical evidence.
Senior police officials confirmed that Mani sustained fatal gunshot wounds and died on the spot before medical intervention could save him. Investigators registered a formal case under pertinent sections covering murder and arms violations, reviewing area security footage and examining potential getaway routes across town.
Specialized units now fan across Kapurthala to track the assailants, with district law enforcement pledging swift arrests as autopsy procedures and formal witness depositions get underway.