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Day after Lawrence Bishnoi gang’s claim, 4 booked for history-sheeter’s murder in Malout
A day after the Lawrence Bishnoi gang claimed responsibility for killing Manpreet Singh Manna, 35, the history-sheeter who it termed had turned a police informer,
A day after the Lawrence Bishnoi gang claimed responsibility for killing Manpreet Singh Manna, 35, the history-sheeter who it termed had turned a police informer, the police registered a case of murder against four unidentified assailants in Malout.
Deputy superintendent of police Manmohan Singh said on Tuesday that the case was registered under Sections 304 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) and efforts were on to track the four assailants. “We are going through the CCTV footage from the crime site to zero in them,” he said.
Manna had just stepped out of a gymnasium in Malout on Monday evening when he was shot 20 times, leaving him dead on the spot.
Soon after the attack, the Lawrence Bishnoi group took responsibility for the murder. A post on his Facebook page said that Manna was killed by gangster Raju Bhisodi because he had turned a police informer. The post said that he had informed the police about Ankit Bhadu, a gangster killed in a police encounter in Zirakpur in February. Bhadu was wanted in cases of extortion and murder in Punjab and the neighbouring states of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The post threatened to kill anyone who betrayed the Bishnoi gang.
Manna is survived by his parents, wife and an eight-year-old daughter.
The cremation took place at Bhoondar village in Muktsar on Tuesday. Family sources said Manna had celebrated his birthday on November 30.
His mother and an uncle were councillors during the Shiromani Akali Dal rule before they shifted loyalty to the Congress in 2011.
Shubdeep Singh Bittu, Manpreet’s cousin who is also a Punjab Congress secretary, said, “It’s too early to comment as the matter is under investigation. Police have assured us justice. Manna did not indulge in any crime for the past few months and was acquitted in certain cases.”
Manna’s name had cropped up in the attack on Akali leader Dyal Singh Kolianwali’s son, Parminder Singh, in October 2017. Parminder survived the attack but his legs were fractured.
A former member of the Punjab Subordinate Services Selection Board, Kolianwali is an aide of Akali patriarch Parkash Singh Badal. Akali leaders had accused the Congress of vendetta politics and a case was registered against Manna and Congress activists in Malout.
