Vaisakhi festival prayer turns fatal in Italy: Two Indian men shot dead outside gurdwara

In a tragic incident, two Indian men were shot dead in Italy's Covo in Bergamo province on Friday, 17 April. The gunfire happened around the time when the duo were leaving a warehouse used as a place of worship during a gathering for Vaisakhi festival, PTI reported citing local media.

According to La Sicilia newspaper report, the shooting occurred a few minutes before midnight in the square in front of the Gurdwara Mata Sahib Kaur Ji in the industrial area of the town.

The authorities have identified the deceased as Raginder Singh, a resident of Covo, and Gurmit Singh, from Agnadello. Both the victims were 48-year-old and of Indian descent. According to preliminary investigation, a sudden brawl that escalated into bloodshed has been ruled out. The publication said that the assailant allegedly approached the men, opened fire and then fled in a car.

As authorities investigate the hypothesis of a “coldly planned execution”, nearly ten shell casings were recovered from the scene. According to an eyewitness, the shooter was "an Indian" who also frequently visited the gurdwara. Describing the harrowing tragedy, he further told reporters that the bullets also grazed a third person. Local institutions had been making preparations to participate in the official celebration for Vaisakhi was planned for Saturday when the incident happened.

According to a source familiar with the matter, the robbers entered a branch of the French Credit Agricole bank in Naples at around 11:30 am (0930 GMT). The gunmen took hostage customers and employees who could only be rescued two hours later. Naples Prefect Michele di Bari in a statement said, “Thanks to the swift response... all the hostages were freed shortly after 1:30 pm, without serious injuries.” According to local media footage from the scene, police broke windows to get inside the bank.

However, the police could not catch the robbers who had already escaped through a tunnel which led "into the sewers".

"The thieves took the contents of dozens of safe deposit boxes", a police source informed AFP, adding, “Nobody but the clients knows what was in those boxes” over the value of stolen items.

Around 40 police personnel and sniffer dogs were deployed in the search operation while forensic police looked for fingerprints at the scene.

(With PTI inputs)