Man who opened fire in Chandigarh’s Sector 25 held

Police said the main reason behind the shootout was old rivalry between victim Sandeep and accused Vijay

The main accused in the Sector-25 shooting incident was arrested by the Chandigarh Police’s crime branch on Wednesday.

Vijay, 27, of Bhaskar Colony, had on October 19 fled to Patiala after the crime, where he had hid himself with the help of Harvinder Joy, a Lawrence Bishnoi gang member. The duo were also involved in another firing incident at a political rally on October 25 there, wherein three persons were injured.

Police said that the main reason behind the shootout was the old rivalry between victim Sandeep and accused Vijay. Sandeep had earlier attacked Vijay’s father, the police said, adding that the accused also had suspicion that Sandeep was involved in the murder of one of his associates.

Sandeep had even accused Sector-24 police post in-charge sub-inspector Shiv Charan of organising the attack. However, Chandigarh SSP Kuldeep Singh Chahal termed it “unlikely” and said a probe was on.

The SSP had issued a show-cause notice to DSP (central) Krishan Kumar, while marking a departmental inquiry against Sector-11 SHO Rajiv Kumar and placing Sector-24 police post in-charge Shiv Charan under suspension for lack of supervision one day after the incident.

Victim’s brother arrested

The crime branch also helped quell a gang war by arresting the victim’s brother, Johnny, 22, who had planned to avenge the attack on Sandeep. He was caught with one countrymade revolver and four live cartridges.

Both Vijay and Johnny are historysheeters. Vijay had been arrested in 15 cases of snatching, robbery and attempt to murder by the Chandigarh Police. He was jailed for three years and was presently out on parole. Johnny was also arrested by the police in one case.

2 held with arms

Two persons were arrested with weapons in separate incidents with police recovering two firearms and eight live cartridges from them.

The crime branch arrested Jagdeep alias Jaggi, 25, of Panchkula from Manimajra with one pistol and two live cartridges. A case under the Arms Act has been registered against him.

The operation cell of the Chandigarh Police arrested Bir Bhan, 30, of Kharar and recovered one revolver with six live cartridges from his possession. The police said he had a licensed weapon, but it was valid only in Punjab.