Amritsar trader’s murder: Bihar cops fail to get clues
PATNA: The Saran district police are struggling make headway in the murder of Amritsar-based gold trader, who was gunned down by unidentified assailants on Friday evening at inthe Bhagwan Bazaar area of Chapra in Saran district of Bihar.
Avtar Singh and his brotherin-law Sarvajit Singh of Krishna Nagar on the Amritsar-Tarn Taran road, were attacked when they were on their way to Rajendra Sarovar bus stand to catch a bus for Patna. Sarvajit, who was seriously injured, is undergoing treatment at the Sadar hospital. The assailants also looted ₹2.5 lakh and gold and silver ornaments worth ₹20 lakh from the duo.
Avtar’s relatives reached Saran on Saturday evening and the body was handed over to them after post-mortem.
The murder sparked protests in the Sonarpatti market areas falling under Bhagwan Bazaar police station. Traders kept their shops closed and shouted slogans against the administration, demanding immediate arrest of the killers.
Eyewitnesses said after the assailants fled, they made repeated calls to the police control room but nobody responded for over 20 minutes.
Saran superintendent of police Hari Kishore Rai said: “We have taken some suspect sin custody and they will be interrogated to identify the assailants.”
He said a five-member special investigation team (SIT) has been constituted under DSP (Sadar) to crack the case. “Prima-facie, it appears that the assailants knew what the traders carrying and trailed them from Sonarpatti from where they collected cash and supplied ornaments to jewellers,” Rai said.
Families of Avtar and Saravjit are in a shock in Amritsar. Avtar was the sole breadwinner of the family. His son Inderjit Singh, 20, was on his way to Pat na when he heard the news of his father’s murder. Avtar is survived by his wife, ason and a daughter, who is married.
‘WAS ATTACKED 6 MONTHS AGO TOO’
Saravjit’s son Pradeep Singh said: “This was the second attack on my uncle in six months. He lent money to someone in Bhagwan Bazaar and had gone to collect that,” he said.
Police officials in Amritsar didn’t get any information about the crime. “No one from the Patna police or family informed us about the incident. We got to know through newspapers,” said Amritsar DCP AS Powar.