A pregnant woman was shot dead while on stage when she refused to dance with a drunken guest during a wedding in India.

Kulvinder Kaur, 25, was shot with a 12-bore double barrel shotgun as she was performing with her dance troupe at the wedding in the Punjab.

Kulvinder, who was two months pregnant, was shot in the head on Saturday night and died in hospital in the town of Bathinda in the south of Punjab.

Her husband, Rajinder Singh, said she worked as a dancer and choreographer, performing mainly at weddings.

Mr Singh claimed the killer, who was a friend of the groom, had got drunk at the party and got angry when he and his friends were told they were not allowed on stage to dance with Kulvinder and her troupe.

He told NDTV: ‘They had been asking her to get off the stage and join them… but she refused… so they shot her.’

A video of the incident, which was taken on a mobile phone, shows Kulvinder – in a white dress – and three other women dancing on stage.

 

Suddenly the silhouette of a long gun emerges in the foreground and appears to be pointed straight at Kulvinder. Seconds later she collapses to the ground, having been hit at virtually point blank range.

But the Times of India suggested the killing in the suburb of Maur Mandi may have been an accident, due to celebratory firing.

The case has fuelled the debate on India’s gun problem as firing in the air during weddings and other celebrations is customary in parts of north India, claiming many lives every year.

Senior Superintendent of Police, Swapan Sharma, said: ‘A case has been registered against four people which includes the owner of the venue, a family member, the person who carried the gun and the shooter.

‘The gun is owned by Sanjay Goyal, son of Vijay Goyal, who is a local politician. Sanjay was also present at the crime scene,’ he said.

Superintendent Sharma said: ‘Raids are being conducted to find the shooter and the close family members are being interrogated.’

Kulvinder’s family said the groom was the son of an important local politician and they claimed the police only reluctantly began an investigation after they protested in the streets.

National Commission for Women chief Lalitha Kumaramangalam told Times Now: ‘Nobody present in the hall is willing to talk on the issue but nobody can get away with murder.’

It is not clear who took the footage, which was captured on a mobile phone camera and later emerged online.

In 1999 a model, Jessica Lal, was shot dead at point blank when she refused to serve a drink to a man at a party in Haryana state.

Manu Sharma, the son of a politician, was acquitted in 2006, only for his conviction to be overturned and he was eventually jailed for life.