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30-year-old shop owner shot dead in Tarn Taran; three booked
The victim’s family members allege the involvement of gangster Landa, saying he had attempted to extort ₹20L from them
A 30-year-old shop owner was shot dead by two bike-borne men in Deenpur village on the Amritsar-Bathinda National Highway, on Tuesday.
The deceased has been identified as Gurjant Singh of Rasoolpur village. His father, Ajayab Singh, in a statement, said “Around four months ago, gangster Landa had demanded ₹20 lakh extortion from my son, but we were already under the debt of ₹40 lakh.”
Canada-based gangster Lakhbir Singh alias Landa is wanted by Punjab Police in several criminal cases, including cross-border smuggling of explosives, arms and drugs. Facing many murder cases, Landa is also accused of conspiring the rocket propelled grenade (RPG) attack at Punjab Police’s intelligence headquarters in Mohali.
The incident took place at around 4 pm when the victim was at his shop. Eyewitnesses said, “Two bike-borne men had entered the shop and asked for some clothes from the victim. When the victim was showing them the variety of the garments, the duo men opened indiscriminate firing at Janta.”
The accused, as per sources, had come from the road leading from Patti.
The victim sustained six bullet injuries and was rushed to Tarn Taran Civil Hospital by owners of nearby shops. However, he was declared dead on arrival at the hospital.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Ranjit Singh Dhillon said they have nominated three accused in the case — Arshdeep Singh, Ishmeet Singh and Gurkirat Singh — under Sections 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and Sections 25-54-59 of the Arms Act.
The SSP added that preliminary investigation showed that Arshdeep, a habitual criminal who was recently arrested by the Delhi and Haryana police in a case of explosives seizure of an improvised explosive device (IED), is the deceased’s cousin and had been involved in a property dispute with him. He said the police was also looking into the extortion angle.
A senior police official, who did not wish to be named, meanwhile said, “Arshdeep had already threatened to kill the victim.”
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