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AAP leader’s driver who aided shooter’s escape held after encounter in Amritsar
Arrested accused, Shaminder Singh, alias Shindari, suffers gunshot in police’s retaliatory fire; main shooter still at large, police claim crucial leads
A day after the brazen daylight murder of Jalandhar-based AAP leader Satwinderpal Singh, alias Lucky Oberoi, Punjab Police on Saturday arrested one of the two main accused following an encounter in Amritsar’s Khasa village — revealing that he was an insider who worked for the victim.
The arrested accused, Shaminder Singh, alias Shindari, was employed as a driver in Oberoi’s finance company and is suspected to have provided critical information about the leader’s movements and exact location to the conspirators.
It was also Shaminder who helped the shooter escape on a scooter after gunning down the 43-year-old AAP leader outside a gurdwara in Jalandhar’s upscale Model Town area on Friday morning, said police. The main assailant remains at large, but police claim to have crucial leads about him.
Soon after the murder, responsibility was claimed by US-based gangster Jograj Singh, alias Joga Pholriwal. Through a social media post after the killing, Pholriwal stated that Oberoi was targeted due to a long-standing personal enmity, which he said stemmed from student politics at Lyallpur Khalsa College in Jalandhar.
According to police, Pholriwal is an associate of Pakistan-based terrorist Harwinder Singh Rinda and gangster Sonu Khatri, with a long criminal history.
Border Range deputy inspector general of police (DIG) Sandeep Goel said immediately after the incident, coordinated efforts were initiated to identify and track down the accused involved in the crime.
“Reliable intelligence inputs led police to victim’s driver Shaminder Singh, who was found to have taken refuge in the Khasa area,” DIG Goel said.
Acting promptly on this information, Amritsar Rural Police laid nakas in the adjoining areas and intensified checking.
Sharing operational details, Amritsar Rural SSP Suhail Qasim Mir said Shaminder was spotted riding a motorcycle in the area on Saturday. When the police signalled him to stop, he panicked and tried to take a U-turn, but lost control and fell down.
“In an attempt to escape thereafter, he opened fire on the police party and sustained a gunshot injury in retaliatory action,” he said.
The SSP added that the accused was arrested and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. An Italy-made .30-bore Beretta pistol was recovered from him.
During preliminary interrogation, the accused made important disclosures regarding the involvement of another person in the murder of Lucky Oberoi, police said, adding that further raids and follow-up action were being conducted to apprehend others involved in the crime.
From trusted driver to shooter’s getaway aide
Jalandhar commissioner of police Dhanpreet Kaur Randhawa said during the course of investigation, police suspected the role of an insider close to the slain leader in disclosing his movement and exact location to the plotters.
Through close scrutiny of CCTV footage gathered from the crime scene and nearby areas, investigators discovered the involvement of Shaminder, a driver in Lucky Oberoi’s finance company.
Police said Shaminder had also gone missing after the crime. “Shaminder brought the main shooter to the gurdwara and later helped him escape on a scooter,” they said.
In a 10-second CCTV footage that emerged from the crime scene, an unidentified youth, wearing a black hoodie, could be seen firing from point-blank range before fleeing on a scooter being driven by his accomplice waiting around the corner.
A police official privy to the investigation said a fresh CCTV footage post crime also came to fore on Saturday through which they gathered another vital video of both accused fleeing on separate vehicles after the killing.
“In the video, captured minutes after the shooting, Oberoi’s driver Shaminder could be seen driving his Hyundai Creta, right ahead of the shooter, who was now riding the scooter used by the duo to escape,” an official said.
The victim’s family told police that Oberoi worked as a financier and a Creta car, which was mortgaged by someone to Oberoi in exchange for money, mostly remained in his possession.
Randhawa said investigation was underway to ascertain how the murder conspirators roped in the victim’s driver to execute the crime.
An official said the main shooter had also been identified.
“He is a professional shooter, who is wanted in another heinous killing in Hoshiarpur district last month. We have his photograph in the police record which matches with the profile of the shooter,” said a senior police official.
Four booked in the case so far
Following the murder on Friday, police had booked gangster Jograj Singh, alias Joga Pholriwal, Dalbira and two unnamed persons under Sections 103 (1) (murder), 3(5) (criminal intimidation), and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with Sections 25 and 27 of the Arms Act, at the Division Number 6 police station in Jalandhar.
Oberoi’s brother Damandeep Singh, on whose statement the FIR was lodged, named Joga and Dalbira in his complaint, claiming that the duo had been issuing death threats to his brother on social media for the past few days.
However, police said the family never filed a complaint about the alleged threat.
Joga Pholriwal was previously arrested by Punjab Police’s anti-gangster task force on September 8, 2023, along with two accomplices in connection with the daylight firing at Zirakpur’s Metro Plaza. “The arrested persons are named in five murders, seven attempts to murder and many more heinous crimes,” the police spokesperson had stated then.
“We are investigating how he managed to leave the country after jumping bail last year,” a police official said.
