Class XI student dead in Ludhiana after ‘suspicious’ outing with friend.

Ludhiana: Police have launched a murder investigation into the death of a 19-year-old youth in the Atam Nagar area, following allegations from his family that his teenage friend and the friend's father conspired to kill him.The Model Town police station registered the case after Mohit, a Class-XI student from Azad Nagar, died from injuries sustained during a mysterious encounter on April 1. The victim's father, Surinder Kumar Gumbar, has said that the events began when a 14-year-old friend arrived at their home on a scooter and took Mohit out for the evening. Suspicion arose when the minor returned alone later that night.When questioned by Mohit's mother, the teenager allegedly gave evasive answers, claiming Mohit had left with another acquaintance. The family began a frantic search, eventually finding Mohit lying unconscious outside a local public school. Though he was rushed to the Civil Hospital and later referred to PGI, he succumbed to his injuries during transport.Allegations of ConspiracyThe family's suspicions deepened the following day when the minor and his father visited their home. According to the police complaint, the pair offered a "different version of events," claiming they had simply seen Mohit near the school the previous night. "The accused kept changing his statements," Gumbar told police, alleging that the minor, his father, and unidentified associates brutally assaulted his son as part of a "planned conspiracy."The Model Town police have registered the case under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for murder, criminal conspiracy, and destruction of evidence. Inspector Jaswinder Singh, station house officer (SHO) of Model Town, stated that the victim's body has been sent for a postmortem examination to determine the exact cause of death."Efforts are in progress to apprehend the accused," the SHO said, adding that investigators are scanning CCTV footage from the Atam Nagar and Azad Nagar areas to reconstruct the timeline of the fatal evening. Both the victim and the accused minor were students living in the same neighbourhood.