Panchkula, November 10: A 19-year-old Panchkula youth was found dead in his car with a gunshot wound to the head near Berwala village on Morni road here on Thursday morning. The victim has been identified as Tanishq Bhasin, son of Punjab and Haryana high court advocate Sunil Bhasin.
A resident of Sector 4, Panchkula, he was a second-year commerce student at SD College, Sector 32, Chandigarh. A passerby spotted his white Toyoto Corolla on his way to Morni and called the police around 9am.
Both family and police are in a fix over the ownership of the revolver with which Tanishq was shot. “The victim’s father has denied owning the weapon or knowing anything about it,” said ACP Bishnoi. She said cops are trying to trace the revolver’s owner, which might give more clues about the incident. The family said it was a mystery to them how Tanishq managed to get such an expensive revolver. “It is German-made weapon and costs not less than ₹4 lakh in India,” said victim’s uncle Anil Bhasin.
The car was locked from inside and cops had to break one of the windowpanes to open it, said assistant commissioner of police (ACP, law and order) Noopur Bishnoi.
“The victim was found dead on the driver’s seat with a bullet injury to the head,” said Bishnoi. “A revolver along with an empty shell were also recovered on searching the car.” “Prima facie, it looks like a case of suicide, but we are not ruling out anything at this stage,” she said.
A police officer investigating the case said the weapon was found lying on the victim’s lap and there were blood stains everywhere inside the car. Sources said a shot was also misfired from the revolver, suggesting that the youth might have panicked while shooting himself on the first attempt.
Police also recovered blades from the victim’s bag besides his mobile phone and other belongings from the car. They are verifying his call details and checking closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras on the route to piece together his final movement. A forensic team, too, reached the spot to collect samples.
The victim’s body has been kept in the mortuary at Government Hospital, Sector 6. The postmortem will be conducted on Friday.
His uncle said Tanishq was very intelligent and always scored well. He was planning to go abroad after completing his graduation.
‘Death around midnight’
The victim’s body was stiff when it was recovered around 9:30am, indicating that he might have died around midnight, said sources.
Tanishq was alive till at least 10:30pm, when he last called his father, saying that he will get late in returning home.
His uncle, Anil Bhasin, who resides in Chandigarh, told HT that Tanishq had left home at 6.30pm on Wednesday, saying that he was going to meet his friends. “Then at 8:30pm, he talked to his father, saying that he was coming for dinner. But then at 10:30pm, he again called to say he would get late,” said the uncle.
After this last call, Sunil Bhasin went to bed, only to find in the morning that Tanishq had not returned. It was around 10am that police informed the family about Tanishq’s death. The victim’s mother is visiting a relative abroad.
‘Hard to digest’
While Tanishq’s father was not in a position to speak, his uncle Anil Bhasin told HT that it was very difficult for the family to digest that he had committed suicide. “We want police to probe the case from all angles,” he said.
Bhasin said the family did not see any behavioural change in Tanishq in the past couple of days. “His friends who visited us too said he did not show any sign of depression,” said the uncle.
Bhasin said Tanishq was very intelligent and always scored well. He was planning to go abroad after completing his graduation.
