Man stabbed to death at liquor vend

Victim confronted the group over 'staring', following which they attacked him and his friend with sharp-edged weapons

- Nikhil Sharma

MOHALI: What started as a confrontation over "staring" ended in a tragedy as a 22-year-old man was stabbed to death by a group of people outside a liquor vend near Patiala-Zirakpur Chowk around 9 pm on Thursday.

The deceased was identified as Akashdeep Singh alias Deep of Gurdaspur who worked as a security guard at a private company in Zirakpur.

Police have booked Simu of Lohgarh, Zirakpur, besides 12 unidentified men for murder.

Rajwinder Singh, 29, of Gurdaspur, who was with the victim also suffered injuries in a bid to rescue his friend.

Rajwinder had recently returned to India from Saudi Arabia and had come to Zirakpur in search of work. He stayed with the victim in a rented accommodation in Aggarwal Estate, Zirakpur.

On Thursday night, the two friends had gone to grab dinner and stopped at a liquor vend on the way back.

"While we were standing outside a vend near Patiala chowk, a group of around 12 people started staring at us. When Akashdeep asked them the reason for it, one of them identified himself as Simu Lohgarh, a don of the area, and asked his accomplices to teach us a lesson following which they attacked us with sharp-edged weapons," the complainant said.