Retired army man kills three in 26 hours in Uttar Pradesh, two on trains, one in hospital

Lucknow: A retired army man allegedly shot dead three persons within a span of 26 hours in Uttar Pradesh before being apprehended.

While two of the victims were shot dead in two different trains in Chandauli district, a woman was shot dead in a hospital in the same district.

The alleged killer, identified as 45-year old Gurpreet Singh alias Virendra, was caught by the locals when he tried to flee after killing a woman inside a private hospital. He was thrashed by the mob before being handed over to the police.

Sources said that Singh, who had retired from the Army six years back and worked as a security guard in Bihar, was being quizzed by the cops, who claimed that he confessed to the killings.

According to the police sources, Singh allegedly shot dead a passenger, identified as Dinesh Shah, a resident of Gaya district in Bihar, while he was travelling with his family in Jammu bound Kolkata-Jammu Tawi Express train near Deen Dayal Upadhyay railway station around midnight on Sunday. He managed to escape after the train slowed as it approached Varanasi railway station.

Dinesh was shot in the ear, when he came out of the toilet in S 2 coach of the train, according to the fellow passengers. Shah was travelling to Naimisharanya, a famous Hindu pilgrimage in UP.

Earlier in the day he had allegedly shot dead a man, identified as Managru, a resident of Ghazipur district, in a passenger train near Sakaldiha railway station on Sunday morning. He threw the body of the deceased on the track before escaping, sources said.

Sources said that Singh, on Monday morning, walked into a private hospital in Chandauli and shot a woman who was hospitalized and lay on her bed in head killing her on the spot.

Two pistols were recovered from his possession.