“Mera rabb rakha, mata tension na leya kar,” an inconsolable Guljinder Kaur, mother of Gurpreet Singh alias Gopi Nijjar, recalled these words of her son, who was shot dead by unidentified assailants in the wee hours of Friday.Nijjar had been attacked earlier in the village and had stayed under police protection for months, but his family never thought a visit to a fast-food joint would claim his life. Shock and gloom pervaded his native village Jairampur near Subhanpur in Kapurthala as a Dhilwan police official and the village sarpanch broke the news of Nijjar’s murder on Friday morning. Relatives gathered as Gopi’s village home rang with wails.The 33-year-old Nijjar was the last witness in the murder case of gangster Sukha Kahlwan. He was found dead in his car at Dhilwan in Kapurthala, with a bullet that had pierced his vehicle’s windscreen. Nijjar had been a long-time associate of the late gangster Sukha Kahlwan and was considered his right-hand man — one of the few who did not turn hostile in the case despite others backing out.Living in fear ever since her son began appearing as a witness in the high-profile case, Nijjar’s mother said she and his friends had repeatedly warned him not to go out late at night, as he had many enemies.Guljinder Kaur said, “Jadon di Sukhe di gawahi ditti, odon da sadde dil ch dar si. Odon ton samjhaunde si putt raat nu bahar na jaya kar. Ohne kehna mera Rabb rakha — Mata tension na laya kar.”“He didn’t even tell me yesterday evening before going out. He just told his niece he was heading to a burger joint to meet friends.”The family said he left after persistent calls from a ‘friend’ on Thursday evening. Nijjar’s mother said, “A village boy had introduced him to Sukha Kahlwan when Gopi was just 17 or 18. Since then, they were close friends. He had been attacked in the village earlier too but survived. We had filed a report with the police and action was taken.”While Nijjar was unmarried, he was the only child living with his parents — mother Guljinder Kaur and father Jasvir Singh — as his two sisters and a brother are settled abroad.Friend Manpreet Singh Manu said, “He was repeatedly called by a friend last night and told us he was going to meet someone at the food joint. We got to know late at night that shots had been fired at him. He was very close to Sukha Kahlwan and had great faith in God.”