Cops say ‘pre-planned murder’ after retired Punjab police AIG shoots dead son-in-law

Harprit was shot dead by his father-in-law, Malvinder Singh Sidhu, at a mediation centre in the district court complex in Sector 43 on Saturday.

The Chandigarh police have termed the killing of Indian Civil Account Services (ICAS) officer Harprit Singh as pre-planned.

Retired assistant inspector general (AIG) Malvinder Singh Sidhu in police custody. (Ravi Kumar/HT)

“The retired assistant inspector general (AIG) of the Punjab Police came to the mediation centre with an intention to shoot his son-in-law dead,” a police official said.

Harprit was shot dead by his father-in-law, Malvinder Singh Sidhu, at a mediation centre in the district court complex in Sector 43 on Saturday.

The victim, Harprit (34), was a 2011 Batch ICAS officer and at present was posted as controller of accounts, Union ministry of agriculture and farmers’ welfare, New Delhi. He and Amitoj, Sidhu’s daughter, got married on July 19, 2020.

Their marriage ran into trouble a few months later, and the two families have been on bitter terms since then. Amitoj accused Harprit of dowry harassment, and a case was registered against him and his mother based on her complaint in January 2021.

Harprit and his mother were arrested in the dowry harassment case. The case landed Harprit in trouble, and he was suspended from his job in 2021. It was after his mother secured bail that he was reinstated in 2022. Harprit had filed for divorce on grounds of mental and physical cruelty in 2023, and the case had now reached the mediation centre.

This was the fourth meeting of the two families at the mediation centre. While earlier, they were involved in litigation in Mohali court, the divorce case was filed in district court in Chandigarh in 2023. Harprit, in the divorce petition, had alleged that his father-in-law Malvinder was using his contacts in the police to get him arrested in a dowry case and was harassing him.

Harprit reached the district courts in the morning with his parents. As Amitoj is in Canada, her father, Malvinder Sidhu, reached the court. When the two parties were involved in a conversation with a mediator present, Malvinder got up to use the washroom. Harpreet got up to show him the way and stepped out of the room with his father-in-law.

Soon, the two entered into a heated argument, following which Sidhu took out his .32-bore revolver and fired four shots at his son-in-law from point-blank range. Two of the bullets pierced Harprit’s chest.

Harprit struggled for 20 minutes after which his parents, accompanied by some advocates, rushed him to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in a private vehicle, where he was declared brought dead. The police detained and arrested Sidhu on the spot, recovering the weapon used in the crime.