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NIA arrests 2 more suspects in Shaurya Chakra awardee killing
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested two more suspects in connection with the high-profile killing of Shaurya Chakra awardee Balwinder Singh Sandhu
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested two more suspects in connection with the high-profile killing of Shaurya Chakra awardee Balwinder Singh Sandhu.
The arrested men —Harbhinder Singh, alias Pinder Dhillon of Jeobala village and Navpreet Singh of Jhamke village in Tarn Taran district— were allegedly in contact with key accused Inderjit Singh, who was taken into custody earlier, sources said.
Sandhu, who was awarded the bravery award for fighting terrorism in Punjab, was gunned down by two-bike borne men at his residence in Bhikhwind town of Tarn Taran district in October last year.
On Tuesday, Harbhinder and Navpreet were produced in a Mohali court that sent them to four-day NIA remand, said Harbhinder’s counsel advocate Navjot Kaur Chabba.
The two had allegedly been in contact with the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), a militant outfit.
Inderjit was arrested by the Punjab Police in January from Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai, hours before he was scheduled to board a flight to Dubai.
The Punjab Police had claimed that Inderjit was one of the two shooters who barged into Sandhu’s house. Another shooter was identified as Gurjit Singh, alias Bha.
Chabba, citing NIA, said the two were arrested on Monday.
“The NIA had served notices to the duo and Harpinder has appeared before the investigating agency twice. She said both the two were cooperating with the investigators and their arrest was uncalled for. Harpinder, who had taken part in army recruitment thrice, had applied for an Australian visa,” she said.
Earlier, the special court in Mohali had granted bail to 12 accused in the case as chargesheet was not presented against them.
The case was initially registered by the Punjab Police in Tarn Taran on October 16, 2020. Later NIA took over the probe after registering a case on January 26 this year. It had earlier filed a chargesheet against eight accused in the case.
