Police nab 3 shooters from Bhutan border in Batala double murder case

In a joint operation with the central agencies, Punjab Police arrested three key accused wanted in the Batala double murder case from the Indo-Bhutan border in West Bengal while they were attempting to flee, director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said on Wednesday

Chandigarh/Batala : In a joint operation with the central agencies, Punjab Police arrested three key accused wanted in the Batala double murder case from the Indo-Bhutan border in West Bengal while they were attempting to flee, director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said on Wednesday.

The case pertains to a shooting incident that took place on April 27 in Bhoma village in Batala when four motorcycle-borne assailants opened fire on three men who were out for an evening walk. In the attack, Kashmir Singh, 40, and Jugraj Singh, 19, a local kabaddi player, were killed on the spot. Another youth, also named Jugraj Singh, 18, survived with severe bullet wounds.

The accused were allegedly linked to a foreign-based fugitive gangster, Happy Jatt, police said.

The case pertains to a shooting incident that took place on April 27 in Bhoma village in Batala when four motorcycle-borne assailants opened fire on three men who were out for an evening walk. In the attack, Kashmir Singh, 40, and Jugraj Singh, 19, a local kabaddi player, were killed on the spot. Another youth, also named Jugraj Singh, 18, survived with severe bullet wounds.

Sharing details, the DGP said that “Operation Nest Wrecker’ was jointly carried out by anti-gangster task force (AGTF), Punjab, overseas fugitive tracking and extradition cell (OFTEC), Punjab, headed by inspector general of police (IGP) Ashish Choudhary and Batala police.

Those arrested have been identified as Jatin Singh of Kathunangal in Amritsar, Sajandeep Singh of Sangar Kot village in TarnTaran and Mehakdeep Singh of Balia Manjpur in Amritsar. Jatin has a criminal background with multiple criminal cases under Arms Act, NDPS Act, registered against him, police said.

Yadav said preliminary investigations have revealed that the arrested accused were acting on the directions of their foreign-based fugitive handler Happy Jatt and had executed planned killings on his directions.

The DGP said investigation has also revealed that accused persons were constantly changing locations to evade arrest. Further investigation is underway to establish the complete conspiracy including financial links, logistical support, weapon procurement, and role of other associates involved in the case, he added.

Additional director general of police (ADGP), AGTF, Promod Ban said following the incident, police teams jointly carried out investigation and analysed extensive CCTV footage from multiple locations.

Technical footprints and intelligence inputs confirmed the movement of the accused towards the international border region, said the ADGP, adding that a team comprising officials of AGTF and Batala police were sent to arrest and bring back the accused to Punjab.

A case under Sections 103 and 109 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 25 of the Arms Act has already been registered at the Ghuman police station in Batala.