Kanpur, October 29: A 22-year-old law student was left critically injured after being brutally attacked with a chopper by a medical shop owner and his associates in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, following an argument over the price of a medicine, police said on Sunday.
The attack, which took place in the city’s Rawatpur area around 9 p.m. on Saturday, left the victim, Abhijeet Singh Chandel, with his stomach slit open and two fingers chopped off, according to Assistant Commissioner of Police (Kalyanpur) Ranjeet Kumar.
Three men — shop owner Amar Singh Chauhan, his brother Vijay Singh, and Nikhil Tiwari — have been arrested on charges of attempt to murder, while a fourth suspect, Prince Srivastava, remains on the run, the officer said.
Police said the argument began when Chandel, a first-year LLB student and resident of Keshavpuram, visited the pharmacy near his house to buy medicine. The verbal exchange escalated, and the accused allegedly attacked Chandel with a sharp weapon, striking him on the head and stomach before fleeing the scene.
“Soaked in blood, the victim collapsed on the road before locals rushed to help,” an officer said. Chandel’s family reportedly tied his intestines with a cloth to stop the bleeding and took him to four hospitals, which refused to admit him due to his critical condition. He was later admitted to Regency Hospital, where doctors performed a two-hour surgery and gave him 14 stitches on the head.
Chandel’s mother, Neelam Singh Chandel, alleged that the attackers were “well connected with police” and managed to register a false extortion case against her and her injured son the same night. “Instead of arresting those behind the murderous attack, police booked my son, who is fighting for his life,” she said.
ACP Kumar confirmed that an extortion FIR had initially been filed based on the shop owner’s complaint, but said a fresh case was registered once details of the assault came to light. Police said efforts are continuing to track down the absconding accused.
