E-Paper
Punjab crime: Patiala businessman’s murder case solved with rival’s arrest
Police crack case within six hours of incident, say professional rivalry triggered crime as Darshan Singla of Sunam was bagging most government labour contracts and accused Pawan Bajaj was losing out
Businessman Darshan Singla of Sunam was shot dead by his professional rival, Pawan Bajaj, in Patiala on Thursday, police said after arresting him within six hours of the incident.
Addressing a press conference on Friday, Punjab Police inspector general MS Chinna and senior superintendent of police Varun Sharma said that Bajaj, a resident of Patiala’s Urban Estate, was a professional competitor of Singla and jealous of his rise in the business.
Also read: Former Punjab assembly speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal joins BJP
Singla was one of the biggest contractors of outsourced employees for the Punjab government. He had got some contracts of the accused, too, and it was out of professional rivalry that Bajaj nursed a grudge. He had been filing complaints against Singla over the past five years. Singla responded by lodging complaints against Bajaj, who eventually planned the murder.
IG Chinna said: “We took the murder as a challenge and the police in three neighbouring districts locked the entry-exit points of Patiala. Taking help of CCTV footage, the police identified the accused and used advance surveillance techniques to trace his movement. He was arrested at Nabha Road when he was trying to escape after abandoning his motorcycle.”
Chinna said that the accused was upset as Singla was bagging most of the government contracts and he was losing out. Besides, there was a dispute between the two over contract for labour at Government Medical College and Hospital in Sector 32, Chandigarh.
SSP Sharma said that the police have impounded the motorcycle and confiscated his licensed weapon that was used to commit the crime.
Singla was shot five times in his office on Thursday. The post-mortem showed that he suffered three bullet wounds in the head and two in the back.
A case was registered under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code.
