Gurgaon murder: Victim a Rajput supporter, had interests in a TV news channel

The 45-year-old man who was state co-ordinator for a J&K-based news channel and a political activist was shot dead in broad daylight

Surender Singh Rana (45), who was shot dead on Friday afternoon on a busy stretch of Jharsa Road in front of the revenue (Patwar) office, was a political activist and since last month, the state co-ordinator of a Hindi television news channel based in Jammu and Kashmir. He also had a contract for vending tea at a major BPO company’s office in CyberHub. His social media posts show an active interest in the Rajput community.

The victim, Surinder Singh Rana, was killed on Friday afternoon near a liquor vend on Jharsa Road. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

Rana was allegedly shot dead around 1.30pm on Friday by three to four assailants who came in a Santro and later escaped towards Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway via Jharsa Chowk, eyewitnesses said.

Later in the evening, police said the murder could be a fallout of a financial dispute as both sides have fought over money earlier too. “The assailants seem to have come prepared to commit the murder,” said an official.

A case of murder was registered against four persons, including a woman, on the complaint of Rana’s wife at Civil Lines police station, police said.

“A case under sections 302 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Arms Act has been registered against four persons named by the man’s wife,” said Ravinder Kumar, Gurgaon police spokesperson.

The four have been identified as Bala Devi, a resident of Sukhrali village, her son Naveen and two others Sanjay and Satpal Pahalwan.

Rana was a resident of Shanti Nagar near Gurgaon and was living in the city for over a decade. His profile on the social media networking site Facebook identifies him as the president of an organisation called Bhartiya Akhand Manch. He has made several posts in support of the Rajput community, which had recently demanded from the Rajasthan government an inquiry into the murder of Anandpal, a strongman from the community. There are also a number of posts against reservations in state and Central government jobs and education institutions.

On July 17, he also uploaded a picture with a BJP leader from Noida.

A month earlier, he joined a television channel, which has its office in Okhla in New Delhi, sources said. He had also produced an authorisation letter from the news channel and handed it over to the district administration. It is not known whether he had any previous experience in electronic journalism, but he had shown interest in hiring reporters, sources said.