A 35-year-old man was killed while three others were injured when the son of an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s woman councillor opened fire over a property dispute at the 100-Feet Road area falling under the B-Division police station in Amritsar city.
The deceased has been identified as Gurpartap Singh, alias Raja, while the injured are his friends Rishi Chaudhari and Jaspreet Singh, and one labourer, who is yet to be identified.
A video of the incident has also gone viral in which a police party is purportedly seen present at the spot when the firing incident happened. Jaspreet has alleged that they were attacked by the accused in the presence of the police.
Sources said the deceased had been running a shop selling vegetables in the area. There had been a dispute between Raja and Charandeep Singh, alias Babba, whose mother Dalbir Kaur is a sitting councillor. Babba and his mother had joined the AAP under the leadership of Amritsar mayor Karamjit Singh Rintu in April. Earlier, Babba was a close associate of former Congress minister Navjot Singh Sidhu.
A case regarding the shop has also been under consideration in a local court. “On Saturday, Babba along with his 12 aides came to the shop and started misbehaving. We called the police. After some time, Babba opened fire with his pistol. Some of the shots hit Raja and Rishi. A labourer had also received a bullet injury. The other associates of Babba attacked us with sharp-edged weapons. I was also injured in the attack,” said Jaspreet.
{{/usCountry}}A case regarding the shop has also been under consideration in a local court. “On Saturday, Babba along with his 12 aides came to the shop and started misbehaving. We called the police. After some time, Babba opened fire with his pistol. Some of the shots hit Raja and Rishi. A labourer had also received a bullet injury. The other associates of Babba attacked us with sharp-edged weapons. I was also injured in the attack,” said Jaspreet.
{{/usCountry}}He said, “Raja had several times informed the police about the threats of Babba, but the police didn’t take any action. We had even asked the police to cancel Babba’s arms licence. The police administration is also equally responsible for my friend’s death.”
He further said, “The shop belongs to Raja’s grandfather, but Babba had been trying to encroach the property.” Police sources said six bullets were fired by the accused.
Amritsar police commissioner Arun Pal Singh said the incident was the result of a property dispute. One of the accused, Charandeep Singh is the son of a woman councillor, he said.
Assistant commissioner of police (ACP-East) Manjit Singh said they have rounded-up Babba and their teams were working to identify all the other accused. Another police official said a case under Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act was being registered against Babba and his aides.
The AAP councillor could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.