E-Paper
Akali leader’s murder: 11 days on, police fail to arrest accused
Two days after the incident, the police had booked five persons for harbouring the accused.
More than 10 day after the murder of the husband of Akali sarpanch at Umarpura village, the police are yet to arrest the accused.
Gurdeep Singh, 52, of Umarpura village in Majitha constituency in Amritsar was shot dead by three bike-borne men on January 1 when he was returning home after paying obeisance at the village gurdwara. The assailants had pumped eight bullets into Gurdeep, who was sarpanch of the village from 2014 to 18. The victm’s wife, Gurjit Kaur, 50, is the present sarpanch of the village.
Police have booked Harmanjit Singh and his father Nirmal Singh of the same village, Harwinder Singh Sandhu of Pandoori village, Balraj Singh, alias Buri, of Basant Kot in Amritsar, Inderbir Singh, and one Manbir Singh, a son of a Punjab Police’s assistant-sub-inspector under Sections 302 (murder), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon) of the IPC and 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act at Majitha police station.
Police had said Batala-based Pavitar gang was behind the murder. The gang is associated with Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, who is lodged in Patiala jail, and is facing 30 criminal cases, including murder, attempt to murder and extortion.
Four of the key accused — Harmanjit, Harwinder, Balraj and Inderbir — are the members of Pavitar gang. One of the accused, Manbir Singh, who is a minor, was apprehended by the police on the day of the incident. Police had said Manbir was passing information about Gurdeep’s whereabouts to the accused.
Majitha SHO Tarsem Singh said raids were being conducted to nab the accused.
Two days after the incident, the police had booked five persons for harbouring the accused.
Those booked included Harmanjit’s mother Gurjit Kaur of Umarpura village, Manjit Singh, Sukhwinder Singh, Bakhsish Singh and Kulbir Singh of Pandoori village.
Harmanjit’s mother had contested elections against Gurdeep’s wife in December 2018, and the kin of the deceased have been alleging political revelry behind the murder.
PAVITAR GANG A HEADACHE FOR POLICE
In last year, a member of the Pavitar dang, Harwinder Singh Sandhu, had claimed responsibility for killing Mandeep Singh, 26, of Pandoori village, 12km from the district headquarters, in a Facebook post. The same gang had also claimed responsibility for firing bullets and injuring another Amritsar man, just half-an-hour before the brutal murder of Mandeep, a labourer. The accused had opened more than 20 rounds, while killing Mandeep, police had said.
KINGPIN OF GANG IN THE US
Last year, the Amritsar rural police had initiated the process to get the Interpol to issue a red-corner notice against Pavitar gang head Pavitar Singh and his close aide Husandeep Singh. They also sought their extradition from the US, where they are learnt to have been living for the past few months.
