Tura youth dies in Punjab after assault; two held

TURA: A youth from Tura, who was pursuing engineering in Punjab, died after he was allegedly assaulted by his neighbours following a brawl over birthday celebration. Two persons have been arrested in this connection.
Ashish Prasad, the 21-year-old student from Tura’s Nakham Bazar, was pursuing mechanical engineering at Lovely Professional University at Phagwara in Punjab. He is an alumnus of Sherwood School Tura and passed his matriculation with distinction in 2012.
Prasad was celebrating his friend’s birthday at his rented house in Adarshnagar locality on Thursday. An agency report quoted Punjab police as saying on Friday that there were seven students and they had planned a cocktail party.
After some time, a group of neighbours barged into their room and asked the students to stop playing loud music. An altercation started that turned into a brawl.
The neighbours allegedly pelted stones. Two brothers, Rahul Kumar and Ashok Kumar, allegedly assaulted the students with blunt objects, including a baseball bat.
Phagwara SP Parminder Singh Bhandhal, while confirming the incident, said a case has been registered under Section 302/34 IPC. A police team, headed by ASP Harish Dyama, arrested the two accused from Kotrani culvert on a tip-off, Phagwara SP Parminder Singh Bhandal told reporters. Four other accused Abhishek and Ankit (both teenaged sons of Rahul) and Rohit and Rishab (teenaged sons of Ashok) were still absconding, said Bhandal.
Ashish was taken to the government hospital at Phagwara where he passed away on Friday morning due to loss of blood. His friend from Bihar, Aman Kumar, sustained serious injuries.
Ashish’s death has sent shockwaves among students from other states pursuing higher education in Punjab and other parts of the northern region. (With inputs from Agencies)