A day after a fourth-year student of Government Medical College was stabbed multiple times by unknown persons late on Monday night, the Patiala police booked a childhood friend of the victim on charges of murder. Police are conducting raids to nab the culprits, who were identified based on CCTV footage from nearby cameras and the complaint filed by the victim’s father.Patiala SP Palwinder Singh Cheema said that after receiving a call at the police control room, teams were deployed on Monday night. “The victim did not answer phone calls, after which his relatives informed local guardians. The guardians then informed the police when his body was found in a pool of blood in his paying guest accommodation in New Lal Bagh. He had injury marks from a sharp-edged weapon around his neck,” he said.The victim was identified as Kamaldeep Mittal, a resident of Bareta village in Mansa. “We suspect that one or more of his friends were involved in the crime, as they had visited him sometime before the incident. We have sent the body for the postmortem examination, and raids are on to arrest the accused who are on the run. We believe the accused fled the spot after the crime, but exact details will be known once we make an arrest,” police said.“We are probing the case. We suspect the involvement of persons known to the victim from the same village. The body had multiple stab wounds near the neck,” police said. “We have registered an FIR and further investigation is underway. As of now, it appears to be the act of one accused, but we are not ruling out the involvement of more than one person,” police added.Meanwhile, family members of the victim said their son had no enemies and demanded the death penalty for his murderer. “He had always wanted to be a doctor and had worked very hard,” they said.The Civil Lines police registered an FIR against Kamaldeep’s friend, Mohit, a resident of Bareta, on Monday night on charges of murder, following a complaint lodged by the deceased’s father, Mahinder Mittal. Mittal alleged in the FIR that Kamaldeep had called him on Jattvibeday evening to inform him that Mohit would visit and stay with him overnight at his PG accommodation. “We did not suspect anything until we were informed that Kamaldeep’s body had been recovered from his room,” he said.