E-Paper
Delhi Police catch killers of Vikramjeet Middukhera
Three sharpshooters of Davinder Bambiha gang nabbed for the murder, along with nine more members, following a month-long operation by Delhi Police, spanning seven states
Over seven months after Youth Akali Dal leader Vikramjit Singh Middukhera, alias Vicky Middukhera, 33, was chased and shot dead by four assailants in Sector 71 in August 2021, the counter-intelligence unit of Delhi Police has arrested three of the shooters.
The three sharpshooters are among 12 dreaded gangsters, aligned with the Davinder Bambiha gang, caught by the Delhi Police following a month-long operation spanning seven states in the country.
They have been identified as Anil Kumar, alias Latth; Sajjan Singh, alias Bholu; and Ajay Kumar, alias Sunny. But their motive behind murdering Middukhera has yet to be established.
According to police, Sajjan and Anil are among the most-wanted gangsters in the Delhi and Haryana region due to their involvement in over 30 murder and extortion cases.
They are also said to be linked with the death threat to Punjabi actor-cum-singer Mankirat Aulakh
Mohali senior superintendent of police (SSP) Harjit Singh said, “We are verifying the arrests, following which we will bring them to Mohali on production warrant for further investigation and questioning into the Middukhera murder case.”
The victim’s brother, Ajaypal Middhukhera, requested the police to bring the shooters to Mohali as soon as possible and establish the motive behind his brother’s murder.
On August 7, 2021, Middukhera was about to sit in his SUV after visiting the office of a property dealer in Sector 71 around 10.30 am, when two masked men chased him and fired multiple shots at him.
Middukhera had ran for his life for about 500 metres amid raining bullets and had even managed to scale the wall of the Sector 71 community centre for cover, but could not survive. He used to carry a licensed pistol in his vehicle, but did not get a chance to grab it.
The two shooters had come in a white Hyundai i20 car bearing a Mohali registration number with two more masked men. The entire incident was caught on a CCTV camera installed in the area.
Despite identifying the killers through the CCTV footage, Mohali police failed to arrest the sharpshooters, even after constituting two special investigation teams (SITs) to probe the case.
According to their probe so far, gangster Kaushal Chaudhary, who is lodged in Karnal jail, had hatched a conspiracy to eliminate Middukhera.
For this, he roped in another gangster Amit Dagar, lodged in Mandoli jail in Delhi, who liaisoned talks with the main conspirator Gaurav Padial, alias Lucky Padial, who is in Armenia and leads the Davinder Bambiha gang since the gangster’s death in a police encounter in 2016.
When Kaushal was brought to Mohali for interrogation, he had revealed the names of Sajjan and Anil for killing Middukhera. Over 60 other gangsters were also questioned for the past seven months, but the killers continued to evade the Mohali police.
Timeline
August 7, 2021: YAD leader Vikramjit Singh Middukhera shot dead by four assailants in Sector 71, Mohali. Davinder Bambiha gang claims responsibility for the murder through a Facebook post
August 8: The then SSP, Satinder Singh, constitutes an SIT led by him
September 22, 2021: Police identify two of the four assailants as Sajjan, alias Bholu, from Jhajjar, Haryana, and Anil Kumar, from Dwarka in Delhi
October 26: Mohali police bring gangster Amit Dagar on production warrant from Delhi jail, but fail to get any lead
December 11: Resenting inordinate delay in the arrest of the culprits, victim’s family members and friends take out ‘Justice March’ in Mohali
March 22, 2022: Mohali police reconstitute SIT under SP Manpreet Singh
March 29: Delhi police arrest three of the four shooters.
