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Punjab Police crack Valtoha AAP sarpanch murder, 7 held
Two shooters arrested from Chhattisgarh; 110 km of CCTV trail and links to foreign-based handlers exposed in cross-country manhunt
Punjab Police on Monday announced the arrest of seven individuals, including two primary shooters, in connection with the murder of Jarmal Singh, the AAP-affiliated sarpanch of Valtoha village, on January 4 after a multi-state crackdown.
The investigation, involving the anti-gangster task force (AGTF) and counter-intelligence units, spanned Punjab, Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar, and Chhattisgarh.
Disclosing the arrest, Punjab director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav, in a press conference, said the hit was masterminded by handlers based abroad.
The key breakthrough came when a specialised team tracked the two shooters, Sukhraj Singh and Karmjit Singh, to a hideout in Raipur, Chhattisgarh.
The duo is being brought to Amritsar by air for interrogation by taking transit remand from the local court in Chhattisgarh.
“The operation relied on a massive technical sweep. Our investigators analysed 110km of CCTV footage to reconstruct the shooters’ escape route,” the DGP said.
Other arrested suspects include modules from Mohali, Tarn Taran, and Jharkhand, indicating a sophisticated, decentralised network.
Jarmal Singh was shot at point-blank range during a wedding at a resort near Amritsar’s Verka Bypass on January 4. The brazen attack occurred in the presence of Aam Aadmi Party’s Khemkaran MLA Sarwan Singh Dhun, sending shockwaves through the border district.
While the DGP attributed the motive to ‘personal enmity’, the logistical scale points to a coordinated gang operation.
The arrests follow the January 6 encounter near Bhikhiwind, where the Tarn Taran police neutralised Harnoor Singh, alias Noor. Police sources confirmed that Harnoor, a key aide of the Prabh Dasuwal and Afridi gangs, had conducted the recce for the sarpanch’s killing.
The Afridi gang has been increasingly active in the Majha region, often acting as the execution arm for foreign-based handlers looking to settle local scores.
police investigations have established gangster Prabh Dasuwal as the mastermind behind the murder, committed due to old enmity, underscoring the pre-planned and targeted nature of the crime.
“Criminals operating in Punjab will not be able to hide even in hell. Anyone involved in violence will be tracked down from any nook, within or outside the country, to face the law,” the DGP said.
The DGP said the accused have been identified as Sukhraj Singh alias Gunga (20) of Thakkarpura in Tarn Taran, Karamjeet Singh (23) of village Passanwal in Gurdaspur, Jobanpreet Singh (19) of village Bhai Ladhu in Tarn Taran, Harpreet Singh alias Happy (27) of village Bahadur Nagar in Tarn Taran, Jobanpreet Singh (20), Kulwinder Singh alias Kinda (20), and Armandeep Singh (18), the latter three residents of village Kalsian Kalan in Tarn Taran.
He said Sukhraj Singh alias Gunga has a prior criminal history involving theft and the Arms Act cases, and was also involved in the Rajwinder Singh alias Raj, sarpanch murder case.
The DGP said investigations revealed that gangster Prabh Dasuwal had old enmity with the deceased former sarpanch and had even fired at him earlier, clearly indicating a pre-planned and well-orchestrated conspiracy. He said the case was taken up on the highest priority, and multiple specialised teams were constituted to investigate the murder.
“The investigation, aided by a combination of technical surveillance and precise human intelligence, enabled police teams to identify both shooters, Sukhraj Singh alias Gunga and Karamjeet Singh, involved in the crime,” the DGP said.
He said sustained inter-state coordination, intelligence-led tracking, and close cooperation with central agencies and Chhattisgarh Police led to the arrest of both shooters from Raipur in Chhattisgarh. “Both accused were deliberately changing locations across multiple states, including Maharashtra, Delhi, Bihar, Punjab, and Chhattisgarh. They were using forged Aadhaar cards to conceal their identity and evade police detection,” he said.
He added that investigations revealed these five accused played a crucial role in the conspiracy by providing logistics, shelter, weapons, and a motorcycle to the shooters.
Yadav said the probe has further revealed that the shooters and the accused providing logistical support did not know each other and were acting independently, solely on the instructions of Prabh Dasuwal.
