On Tuesday, a bizarre case was reported from Punjab’s Dera Bassi wherein a drunk man allegedly bit off his 27-year-old neighbour’s tongue during a brawl near Harkishan Public School.
The incident took place on the night between Saturday and Sunday. The victim has been identified as Harpreet Singh. The victim recorded his statement on Monday, the police said.
The accused has been identified as Vipul Garg. The incident happened when Harpreet and his friend Jung Bahadur were returning in the night from a wedding in Dera Bassi. When Harpreet stopped his motorcycle next to a park near his house to relieve himself. The accused, who was drunk and driving home from a birthday party, struck another car parked in the same spot.
As Harpreet knows Vipul, he asked him to leave the spot to avoid conflict. But a man seating in the front passenger seat of Vipul’s car started to abuse him. After that Vipul and his friend got out of the car and started to assault Harpreet. He attempted to flee on his motorcycle but failed to do so.
Vipul called his older brother Rishav into the altercation and when he arrived, now the three of them attacked Harpreet. Vipul brutally bit off Harpreet’s tongue after grabbing him by the throat. Harpreet’s friend attempted to stop them but they assaulted him also.
When the accused and Harpreet’s friend Bahadur saw Harpreet bleeding, they took him to the Dera Bassi civil hospital, from which he was referred to GMCH, Sector 32, Chandigarh, and then to PGIMER. Later on, the victim was taken to a private hospital where his severed tongue was reattached.
The complaint was lodged by victim Harpreet Singh’s father. “My son requested the car driver to leave. Instead, the driver, Vipul Garg, began arguing with my son. Vipul then called up his brother and another friend to the scene,” Pawan Kumar said in his complaint.
The accused runs a cement and iron bar shop in Zirakpur. On the basis of the complaint lodged by the victim’s father, the police filed a case against Vipul Garg, his brother Rishav Garg, and an unnamed accomplice under sections 323 (assault), 325 (voluntarily causing grievous harm), 341 (wrongful restraint), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention). There have been no arrests in the case so far.
