J&K leader found dead in west Delhi flat: Police say one suspect held a grudge over eviction from Jammu gurdwara committee

Police said Harmeet Singh, who was removed from the committee a year ago, reportedly on Wazir’s behest, expressed his anger against the J&K leader before some people, said a senior police officer associated with the probe

New Delhi: The police team investigating the murder of Tarlochan Singh Wazir, the 67-year-old former member of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) legislative council and a senior National Conference leader from Jammu whose body was found in a west Delhi flat, has found that one of the two absconding suspects nursed a grudge against Wazir over his eviction from the management committee of a gurdwara in Jammu.

TS Wazir (67), a former member of Jammu & Kashmir legislative council and a senior National Conference leader from Jammu, was found dead in a west Delhi flat. (Sourced)

Police said Harmeet Singh, who was removed from the committee a year ago, reportedly on Wazir’s behest, expressed his anger against the J&K leader before some people, said a senior police officer associated with the probe. Police are also looking for other motives to link the prime suspect, Harpreet Singh, who was close to Wazir and had reportedly rented the flat in Basai Darapur near Moti Nagar in west Delhi, where Wazir’s body was found in a semi-decomposed state on Thursday morning.

“As of now, we really don’t know the exact motive behind Wazir’s murder. We are working on two-three probable theories, one of which is related to Harmeet’s eviction from the gurdwara management committee on Wazir’s suggestions. The actual reason will be known only when we catch Harmeet and Harpreet,” the officer added.

Initial autopsy report shows that Wazir died of a bullet injury in his head and the time of his death was sometime on September 2, another police officer privy to the development in the case said.

The Jammu & Kashmir police were already searching for Wazir as he was supposed to reach Canada on September 3 to attend a family function. The family had tried to contact Wazir on his cellphone but the call was answered by Harpreet, who informed that he had already board the flight but had forgot to take his mobile phone with him. Before turning off Wazir’s mobile phone on September 4, Harpreet had called Wazir’s brother in Jammu and confessed to killing him, along with Harmeet. The brother alerted the Jammu & Kashmir Police and the search operation began, the police said.

“We have learnt that Wazir frequently visited Harpreet’s flat in west Delhi. On August 15, Wazir had come to attend Harpreet’s birthday party that he had organised at the flat. Another visit was in the last week of August. We are trying to find out what went wrong between Wazir and Harpreet,” the second officer added.

Police said many people known to the two suspects are being questioned in the case while multiple teams are conducting raids in Jammu, Punjab and Delhi-NCR to catch them.