Rebuked for bunking school, Batala teenager shoots self

Tribune News Service

Batala, July 13

After being allegedly admonished by his teachers and parents, a 17-year-old plus-one student of a local school fatally shot himself in the forehead with his father’s licenced revolver.

Karanbir Singh Bhullar (18), son of an influential agriculturist, was a student of Cambridge International school. His friends claim that yesterday afternoon, his mother Parminder took him to a parent-teacher meeting (PTM) where his teachers admonished him.

Sources claim that in the evening, the boy went to his father’s room, bolted it from inside, took out the revolver from the drawer and shot himself from point-blank range.

Minutes after the firing took place, his mother and neighbours rushed into the room. Seeing his critical condition, the family members decided to take him to an Amritsar hospital instead of a local one. Karanbir died in the hospital in the morning today.

School Principal Ravneet Kaur confirmed that Parminder had met the teachers yesterday where she was told — in the boy’s presence — that her son often bunked school and that he needed drastic improvement if he wanted to continue in the institution.

Initially, the police tried to give a different colour to the incident by saying that “Karanbir committed suicide due to some other reason.” However later, the police veered around to the theory that the immediate trigger was that he was rebuked by his mother and schoolteachers.

Senior Superintendent of Police Daljinder Singh Dhillon said that a case had been registered. “We are investigating the matter from all possible angles. The school teachers are also being questioned,” he said.