Plot to kill jeweller hatched in US, 1 held

KARNAL: Two days after BJP’s Nilokheri mandal vice-president and jeweller Tajinder Bagga, 45, was shot dead by two bike-borne assailants, the Karnal police on Wednesday claimed that the conspiracy to kill him was hatched in the US.

Talking to mediapersons here, Karnal superintendent of police (SP) Surender Singh Bhoria said they have arrested one of the alleged killers, Naresh Kumar alias Ranjha of Assandh.

Naresh told the police that Rajpal Singh, former sarpanch of Sandir village of the district who is currently in the US, had hired him and Ankit for Rs 4 lakh to kill Bagga.

Bagga was shot dead in Gol Market of Nilokheri on Monday evening.

The SP said the police have also recovered the pistol used in the murder and accessed a telephonic conversation between Rajpal and Naresh.

MOTIVE BEHIND MURDER

On the motive behind the murder, the SP said that in the preliminary investigation it was found that Rajpal had a property dispute with the victim, so he wanted to get him killed.

The police said Rajpal is facing around a dozen criminal cases, including those involving attempt to murder and extortion.

Rajpal was lodged in a Karnal jail in an attempt to murder case and got bail in February this year. He later went absconding even as the trial in the case was pending. He was then declared proclaimed offender (PO) by a Karnal court.

The police said Rajpal had met Naresh in jail in 2016 and since then they were in touch — even after the former fled to the US. Naresh had a telephonic conversation with Rajpal after Bagga’s murder.

Police said Naresh had also managed to get a visa for Singapore and he too was planning to leave country after the murder. The SP said the police were making efforts to ensure Rajpal’s arrest with the help of the Union government.

He said Naresh would be produced in the court and police will seek his remand to get information about Ankit, who was also on the run.

EXSARPANCH, WHO FLED TO US AFTER BEING DECLARED PO IN AN ATTEMPT TO MURDER CASE, HIRED TWO CRIMINALS TO KILL TAJINDER BAGGA