Patti shootout: Gangster wanted for killing Amritsar bouncer is key suspect

Police round up three persons, including two close associates of the prime accused, in connection with Thursday’s incident

Wanted criminal Daya Singh, alias Preet Sekhon has emerged as a prime suspect in the Patti shootout incident in which two persons, including a history sheeter, were killed and their aide sustained bullet injuries on Thursday.

Daya Singh, alias Preet Sekhon was also accused of killing his sister and her mother-in-law in 2011.

Amandeep Singh, alias Aman Fauji (28), a gangster and a Shiromani Akali Dal worker, and Prabhjit Singh, alias Pooran (27) died on the spot when two unidentified car-borne men opened indiscriminate firing at Nadohar Chowk in Tarn Taran district’s Patti town.

Their aide Samsher Singh, alias Shera (30) received a bullet injury. The accused fired a total of 18 rounds.

Sekhon, who is wanted for shooting a bouncer dead in Amritsar in October last year, was also accused of killing his sister and her mother-in-law in 2011. A case was registered against him and came out of jail in 2018. He is also accused of killing one Harjit Singh in Amritsar in December 2019.

Soon after the killing, two Facebook posts had surfaced — one from a user claiming to be a member of the Jaggu Bhagwanpuria gang and another from an account after Preet Sekhon’s name — claiming responsibility for the killing.

Fauji had five criminal cases, including two of attempt to murder, registered against him while Shera is facing a drug case.

“Our teams are working to nab Sekhon, who hails from Sangna village in Amritsar district,” said Tarn Taran senior superintendent of police (SSP) Dhruman H Nimbale.

The police have procured closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of a Swift Dzire car used by the accused for executing the crime. Nimbale, however, said they have not got anything concrete from the footage to identify the accused.

Another senior police official said, “We have rounded up three persons in connection with the shootout. One of them is Harman Singh from Patti who nursed a grudge against Aman Fauji over the latter’s illicit relations with a woman. The two others are close associates of Sekhon— one is from Tarn Taran town and the other from Sarhali village.”

He said, “As of now, we are focusing on Sekhon. The post that surfaced on Facebook from a purported Jaggu Bhagwanpuria gang member seems to be fake. Goli Kazikot, a Bhagwanpuria associate, claimed in another post that the gang had nothing to do with the episode.”

Nimbale said they have not found Sekhon’s link with any notorious gangster as yet.

Shera is still not in a position to record his statement, the police said.