Budding cricketer killed over kebabs.

Stray bullet hits U- 19 champ Gagandeep Singh at a Meerut shop

A PROMISING cricketer, who recently represented India in an under- 19 series in Australia, was killed after being hit by a stray bullet during an altercation outside a shop in Meerut.

Gagandeep Singh, 18, was in Meerut representing Uttar Pradesh in the C. K. Nayudu under- 22 tournament.

At about 11 pm on Friday, Gagandeep -- termed by many as a rising star in UP cricket circles -- left the Crystal Hotel, where he was staying, along with his friends and headed to a shop in the Handia area locally famous for kebabs.

The police said while Gagandeep was in queue, a white Alto car stopped in front of the shop. A man got out of the car and asked the shop owner, Haji Shahnawaz, that he be served kebabs.

When Shahnawaz asked the man to wait, the latter lost his temper and started abusing the shopkeeper.

The police said after a heated exchange of words, another man got out of the car and started firing at the owner.

Gagandeep, a mere spectator, got caught in the firing and was shot. Shahnawaz and another man called Sharif were also hit.

The wounded were rushed to the local Dayanand Hospital, where Gagandeep and Shahnawaz were declared brought dead. Sharif's condition is reported to be critical.

The alleged assailant Rahul has been arrested and the weapon used in the crime, a .32 bore revolver, recovered from him, Inspector General of Police Javed Akhtar said. Police are searching for two other persons involved in the crime.

Superintendent of police ( SP) Prabal Pratap Singh said, " During primary investigation, we found that three persons were involved in the crime and have registered cases against them.

They have been identified as Rahul, Ankit and Ajay Raj.

Rahul has been arrested. A .32 bore revolver and four live cartridges have been recovered from his possession. But Ankit and Ajay are yet to be arrested." At Gagandeep's home in Kanpur, the air was thick with grief.

The cricketer's father Surendra Singh, a truck driver, was yet to come to terms with his son's death. " Gagan told me to stop driving trucks when he was selected for the under- 19 Indian cricket team. He told me, ' You don't have to worry about anything anymore. I'll take care of everything'," an anguished Surendra said.

Chairman of Kanpur Cricket Association ( KCA) Sanjay Kapoor said, " It's really unfortunate.

The city has lost a dynamic and talented cricket player." The KCA also announced that the Twenty- 20 tournament scheduled to be held in Kanpur will be named after Gagandeep.

" It will now be called Gagandeep Memorial Twenty- 20 Cricket Tournament'," Kapoor said. The KCA also announced a ' compensation' of Rs 21,000 for Gagandeep's family. The Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association has decided to donate Rs 5 lakh to Gagandeep's family. The players of the C. K. Nayudu U- 22 team will also donate their match fee to his kin.

GAGANDEEP WAS A ' RANJI PROBABLE'

Had Gagandeep lived 24 hours more, he would have " 100 per cent" figured among the UP Ranji Trophy probables for the upcoming tournament.

Former Test player Gopal Sharma, now chairman of the Ranji selection committee, confirmed that he and his co- selectors had already decided that Gagandeep would be an automatic choice. " We had decided before Saturday's meeting that we would pick him among the 30 probables. His was a 100 per cent selection. He was a talented player and his death is a great loss to Uttar Pradesh cricket," Sharma, himself an off- spinner of repute, said after the selection committee meeting in Kanpur.

Gagandeep toured with the India under- 19 team to Australia in April and was widely considered to make it big. UP Ranji team coach Gyanendra Pandey and Moosi Raza, coach of the UP C. K. Nayudu under- 22 side of which Gagandeep was a member, are among those who vouch for his skill.

" I am told that he was a very talented player. He would surely have been among the 30 Ranji probables this season ," Pandey said.

" I was very impressed by him.

Not only was he a good left- arm spinner but he was a good lefthanded batman too. He was, in fact, a good all- rounder," Raza said from Meerut.

Raza disclosed that Gagandeep had broken the 10 pm team ' curfew' imposed by the team management. " The team played a friendly match on Friday to warm- up and since the boys were tired after that they went to sleep. After waking up, Gagandeep ( along with two teammates) went to a kebab shop, barely 30- 40 steps from our hotel, Crystal Palace, and the incident happened there," he said. " We have a 10 pm curfew for the team, so no player is supposed to go out of the hotel after that time. But can you stop an 18- year- old boy from venturing out? These days, boys often don't listen to their parents, and I am only a coach, after all."

A RISING STAR

Born on March 19, 1991, in Kanpur, Gagandeep Singh's first major cricketing coup was when he made it to the Uttar Pradesh under- 19 team

He had worked his way through the age- group levels in Uttar Pradesh, representing them in the U- 15, U- 17 and U- 19 levels

He also played for India under- 19s in Australia last April

He was also a cinch to make to UP's Ranji team this year

As a cricketer, selectors describe Gagandeep as a ' good all- rounder'

Top officials at the Kanpur Cricket Association announced on Saturday that the Twenty- 20 tournament scheduled to be held in the city will now be called Gagandeep Memorial Twenty- 20 Cricket Tournament

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