Dancer shot dead in Bathinda: Owner of the gun nabbed, hunt on for main accused

Bathinda: The Punjab Police on Monday nabbed one person in connection with the sensational killing of a 25-year-old pregnant dancer in a celebratory firing during a wedding in Punjab's Bathinda on Saturday evening.

According to news agency ANI, a team of Punjab Police today arrested the owner of the gun which was used to fire at the dancer.

We have arrested the person who owned the gun. We will soon nab the main culprit also, Davinder Singh, DSP, Punjab Police was quoted as saying by ANI.

A massive hunt is on for the key accused, he added.

Kulwinder Kaur, who was shot in the stomach while performing on stage, was reportedly three-months pregnant. She had died on the spot.

Kulwinder's husband Harjinder Singh had later claimed one 'Billa', a friend of the groom, had shot her as she rebuffed his advances. "They had been asking her to get off the stage and join them... but she refused... so they shot her," he had alleged. 

The woman was part of a four-member dance troupe from Bathinda who had come to perform at a wedding in Maur Mandi town. A video of the incident, which shows her getting shot from close range and collapsing to the ground, also went viral on social media soon after the incident.

The police had till now maintained that it was a case of celebratory firing gone wrong but assured that all angles will be probed. 

"Details will be out after post-mortem," Daljit Singh, a police officer, had said.

A massive hunt is on for Billa, who fled after the incident. Billa is wanted in a number of cases registered against him.

Eyewitnesses present during the incident claimed that the dancers were performing on stage when the celebratory firing began. A bullet fired by Billa got stuck in his double-barrelled gun and while he tried to unlock it, it had hit Kulwinder in the stomach.

The music was stopped and police was called in immediately. Kulwinder's body was sent to the civil hospital where she was declared dead on arrival.