"I regret having shot the ASI," said murder accused Ranjit Singh Rana, lying on a bed at the Patti hospital on Friday with his left leg and right hand in plaster. But he hastened to add that it was assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Ravinder Pal Singh who had attacked him first.
Talking to a section of the media, Rana initially denied having ever threatened the ASI's daughter, Robanjit Kaur. However when it was pointed out that the girl had lodged a complaint with the Chheharta police on December 1, he fell silent.

When asked what he would have done if someone had teased his wife or daughter, he said, "I may have also done the same thing (attacked the eve-teaser)."

Rana, who was injured when he tried to escape from the police on Wednesday night, denied reports that he used to deal in drugs.

Arms licence
Rana had procured three weapons on the arms licence issued to him in 2010 by the Amritsar rural police. Interestingly, he was not a member of any political party when he got the licence. He had applied for it on July 15, 2009.

The first verification was done by the Lopoke station house officer (SHO) on August 26, 2009, followed by another by the Lopoke deputy superintendent of police (DSP) on October 28, 2009. Then Amritsar senior superintendent of police (rural) Gurmit Singh Chauhan had cleared the application on February 1, 2010.

Under the rules, a person can have a maximum of three weapons on one licence. Rana had purchased a .12-bore gun, a .32-bore revolver and a .315-bore rifle. The .32-bore revolver and the .315-bore rifle were allegedly used in the ASI's murder on Wednesday.