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Budding Sikh
cricketer shot dead in Meerut
WSN Network
 MEERUT/LUCKNOW:
Gagandeep Singh, who represented
India
in an under-19 series in Australia, was shot dead after being caught
in a row between a shopkeeper and a customer in Meerut last
Saturday. Gagandeep was in the city to play the G K Naidu
tournament.
The assailant
Rahul has been arrested and the weapon used in the crime, a .32 bore
revolver, recovered from him, police said. Police are searching for
two other persons involved in the crime.
Gagandeep was
standing outside a shop selling kebabs when the shopkeeper Shahnawaz
got into a scuffle with a man who wanted to be served first and
refused to wait. An accomplice of the impatient man fired killing
Gagandeep and the shopkeeper. Another man identified as Sharif was
injured in the incident.
As per
cricketer's uncle Mahendra Singh, Gagandeep had come to the city on
October 6. He has been playing cricket since he was 10. He has
played under-15, under-19 and now he was playing under-22.
Head of the
Meerut Cricket Association Yudhveer Singh said Gagandeep had just
returned from Australia after playing in under-19 for India. The
1991-born was inspired to take to cricket by his uncle Devendra
Singh, who had represented UP at Ranji Trophy. “For Gagan, cricket
was life, and his only aim was to find a permanent place in the
Indian cricket team as a left-arm spinner. While bowling in nets or
match, he always carried a photograph of his uncle (Devendra) in his
pocket,” said his father Surendra Singh, a truck driver.
A first-year
commerce student of Dayanand Anglo Vedic College , Gagandeep had
represented the state junior teams over the past five years. In
2004, he was selected in the UP under-15 team for the Polly Umrigar
Trophy. Two seasons later, he was picked in the state under-17 team
for the Vijay Merchant Trophy. Last season, the left-arm spinner was
successful in finding a place in UP under-19 team for the Cooch
Behar Trophy, before making it to the India under-19 team which
toured Australia earlier this year.
14
October 2009
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