In FB post, gangster claims responsibility for killing Akali leader
CONFESSION Harman Bhullar says the victim was falsely guiding police against him, repudiates political link in murder
AMRITSAR : Almost half-month after the brutal killing of a Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) sarpanch’s husband at Umarpura village in Majitha constituency of Amritsar on January 1, gangster Harman Bhullar on Thursday claimed responsibility of the murder in a Facebook post.
In his post, Bhullar claimed that the victim was killed for ‘falsely guiding’ the police. It has also repudiated ‘any politicallink’ behind the murder.
Harman Bhullar of Umarpura village is one of the key accused booked by Majitha police for the murder of Gurdeep Singh, 52. The victim’s wife, Gurjit Kaur, 50, is the village’s sarpanch.
Gurdeep, who was the sarpanch of the village from 2014-18 and is a close associate of former SAD minister Bikram Singh Majithia, was shot dead by three bike-borne men when he was returning home after paying obeisance at the village gurdwara. The assailants had pumped eight bullets into Gurdeep.
“I would like to inform that there was no political link in the Gurdeep Singh’s murder. It was our personal enmity. No one kills anyone without reason. And the murder was committed by us, three brothers—harman Bhullar, Harwinder Sandhu and Buri Basantkotia. Nobody else is involved in it,” the post read.
“This man (Gurdeep) had been guiding police falsely against us. I tried to convince him several times, but the matter had gone out of control…he had also duped several youth on the pretext of sending them abroad…he was also booked in around 20 cases…if we had to kill him for sarpanchi (post of sarpanch), we would have killed him before the sarpanch election,” the post further read.
‘POLICE TRACING LOCATION OF POST’
A senior police official, privy to the investigation, said they were trying to trace the location from where the post was uploaded.
Earlier, police had booked Harmanjit Singh Sandhu (also known as Harman Bhullar), his father Nirmal Singh of Umarpura, Harwinder Singh Sandhu of Pandoori village, Balraj Singh, alias Buri of Basant Kot in Amritsar, Inderbir Singh and one Manbir Singh, son of a Punjab police assistant sub-inspector, under Sections 302 (murder), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapons) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 25,54 and 59 of the Arms Act at Majitha police station.
Police had said Batala-based Pavitar gang was behind the murder. The gang is associated with Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, who is lodged in Patiala jail, and is facing 30 criminal cases, including murder, attempt to murder and extortion.
Four of the key accused—harmanjit, Harwinder, Balraj and
Inderbir—are members of the gang.
POLITICAL RIVALRY
Harman’s mother Gurjit Kaur (a namesake of the sarpanch) had contested election with Congress’s support against the victim’s wife in December 2018. The kin of Gurdeep Singh have been alleging political rivalry behind the murder.
On Tuesday, the rural police had arrested one Lovepreet Singh of Gurdaspur, and his aide Raman Masih, for allegedly sheltering Gurdeep murder case’s accused.
SSP, Amritsar-rural, Vikramjit Singh Duggal, acknowledged the post but refused to comment.
SAME GANG CLAIMED RESPONSIBILITY PREVIOUSLY
In November last year, a Pavitar gang member and one of the key accused, Harwinder Singh Sandhu, had claimed responsibility for killing Mandeep Singh, 26, of Pandoori village, around 12km from the district headquarters, in a Facebook post.
The same gang had also claimed responsibility for firing and injuring another Amritsar man, just half-an-hour before the brutal murder of Mandeep, a labourer.
GURDEEP SINGH, FORMER SARPANCH, WAS SHOT DEAD BY THREE BIKE-BORNE MEN ON JAN 1 WHEN HE WAS COMING HOME AFTER PAYING OBEISANCE AT THE VILLAGE GURDWARA