Punjab: 2 shooters of Arsh Dalla gang held for Sikh activist’s murder
Punjab Police arrested two key shooters, members of the Arsh Dalla gang, from Kharar on Saturday, a month after Gurpreet Singh, alias Bhodi, a Kotkapura-based Sikh activist, was shot dead by four assailants at Hari Nau village in Faridkot district
Mohali : Punjab Police arrested two key shooters, members of the Arsh Dalla gang, from Kharar on Saturday, a month after Gurpreet Singh, alias Bhodi, a Kotkapura-based Sikh activist, was shot dead by four assailants at Hari Nau village in Faridkot district.
The accused were identified as Navjot Singh, 26, and Anmolpreet Singh, 23, both residents of Barnala.
The state special operation cell, Mohali, along with Faridkot police and anti-gangster task force (AGTF) sleuths conducted a joint operation and arrested the accused from a lounge inside Swaraj Enclave in Kharar, officials familiar with the development said.
“The accused reached Kharar on Friday evening following which our teams arrested them on Saturday,” a senior police officer said.
The Faridkot police had released sketches of shooters last month.
On October 9, Singh, a member of Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh’s ‘Waris Punjab De’, was shot dead by four unidentified bike-borne assailants when he was returning from a gurdwara.
Punjab Police had claimed that the Sikh activist was murdered at the behest of Amritpal Singh, who is lodged in Dibrugarh jail of Assam under the stringent National Security Act (NSA).
Police have also named Amritpal in the FIR registered on October 10, 2024, under Sections 103 (1) (murder), 126 (2) (wrongful restraint) and 3 (5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 25 of the Arms Act at the Kotkapura police station. Later police added section 111 (organised crime) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) in the FIR.
The police last month also arrested three members of Arsh Dalla gang, who emerged as the mastermind according to Punjab director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav.
Those arrested were identified as Bilal Ahmed, alias Fauji, Guramardeep Singh, alias Pontu, and Arshdeep Singh, alias Jhandu.
Police said that the murder of Gurpreet Singh was masterminded from abroad by Arsh Dalla and other persons.
The earlier three arrested persons constituted a part of the recce module, being handled by Canada-based Karamveer Singh, alias Gora. The recce module passed on crucial information to the shooter module through their handlers and cut outs, DGP had claimed.
The top Punjab cop had claimed that Singh was a close associate of Waris Punjab De original founder Deep Sidhu and had joined hands with Amritpal after he took over as its chief. But later, he parted ways with Amritpal and used to criticise him on social media.
