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Punjab: Auto driver arrested in Arjuna awardee DSP’s murder case
Three days after Arjuna awardee deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Dalbir Singh Deol (54) was shot dead, the Jalandhar commissionerate police on Wednesday arrested an auto-rickshaw driver
Jalandhar : Three days after Arjuna awardee deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Dalbir Singh Deol (54) was shot dead, the Jalandhar commissionerate police on Wednesday arrested an auto-rickshaw driver, officials familiar with the matter said.
The body of the former champion weightlifter, who was a silver medallist in the 1999 Asian Games and was conferred the Arjuna Award in 2000, was found abandoned near a canal at Basti Bawa Khel on the outskirts of Jalandhar town on January 1 morning. The body had multiple injuries, including a bullet to the head.
Deol was posted at the Punjab Armed Police (PAP) headquarters in Jalandhar.
Senior police official seeking anonymity said on the basis of a CCTV footage, they have zeroed in on the auto driver in which the DSP was travelling on December 31 night.
“In the CCTV video, Deol could be seen accompanying the auto driver to a liquor vend near the crime spot. After meeting his friends in a motor garage, the DSP took the auto from the bus stand but stopped at a liquor vend near Basti Bawa Khel,” a senior police official said requesting anonymity.
Deputy commissioner of police Harwinder Singh Virk refused to divulge details saying the investigation into the case is underway. “We cannot divulge details at this stage as it will hamper the investigation,” Virk said.
The police are also yet to recover the service revolver of the DSP, said another official.
The police registered a case under Sections 302 (murder) and 379-B (robbery) of the IPC and other sections of the Arms Act after a bullet injury mark was found on Deol’s head.
Earlier, the police pursued the case as hit and run but by Monday evening, when the doctors physically examined the body in a mortuary at Jalandhar civil hospital, they found a bullet injury at the back of his head. As per the post-mortem report, the DSP was shot from a point-blank range.
The forensic teams have recovered two empty cartridges of .9mm pistol from the crime spot.
