Woman Drug Inspector Shot Dead, 10 Years After Scrapping Licence

Chandigarh: Balwinder Singh once ran a chemist shop at Morinda in Punjab. About a decade ago, acting on a tip-off, the drug controller’s office raided his shop and seized intoxicants. Thereafter, he lost his licence and was rendered jobless.

Ten years later, on Friday morning, Balwinder walked into the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) office at Kharar, near Chandigarh, and shot dead the zonal licencing authority’s drug inspector, Neha Shoree, who had cancelled his licence.

Sporting a red-coloured jacket, the assailant fired four bullets at the 38-year-old woman officer, two of which hit her. She was rushed to the civil hospital in Kharar, from there to a private hospital and finally to PGIMER in Chandigarh, but she died on the way.

Neha’s colleagues said her four-year-old niece had accompanied her to the office that day. The little one is yet to comprehend what happened.

After the firing, Balwinder ran out of the building and tried to escape on his motorcycle, which was parked outside. However, office staff surrounded him from all sides. Realising that he had little chance to escape, he turned the gun at himself.

Some reports say he died instantly, but a PTI report said he has been admitted to a hospital in a critical condition.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has directed the state DGP to ensure a speedy probe into the murder.

The entire episode happened within a span of minutes and many in the office could not even understand what happened.

“Balwinder Singh got a license in 2005, which was valid till 2010. His shop was located in Morinda. As a drug inspector in Ropar, Neha raided his shop in 2008 and found habit-forming drugs. His licence was cancelled at that time and he had left the shop,” state drug controller Pradeep Matoo said.

Neha was married to Varun Monga and had a daughter. The family lived in Panchkula.