Liquor baron’s ‘disgruntled aides’ on UT police radar

ATTACK COULD BE LINKED TO RECENT RAIDS ON ILLEGAL LIQUOR FACTORIES IN PUNJAB, SAY POLICE

CHANDIGARH: A day after four to five men fired 17 shots at the house of liquor baron Arvind Singla’s brother in Sector 33, police have said it could be a case of business rivalry.

The shots were fired from 9mm and .32 bore pistols at the bungalow of hotelier and businessman Rakesh Singla on Sunday evening.

Though the police are yet to make any arrests, Arvind has given them names of four to five “disgruntled associates” who are now being questioned. It is suspected that the attack could be linked to the recent raids on illegal liquor factories in Punjab during the lockdown.

Arvind Singla who owns around 500 liquor vends in Chandigarh and Punjab in his statement to the police said, “Four persons on Sunday evening had walked up to my private security guard asking to meet me, just a few minutes prior to the firing at Rakesh’s house.”

The security cover provided to him by Punjab Police had been instructed to turn away anyone coming to his house. On Sunday, the security guard did exactly that, after which the accused walked to Rakesh’s house and fired 17 shots, police said.

VEHICLE USED IN CRIME TRACED

After firing, the accused had fled in a car bearing a Punjab registration number. The police in a statement on Monday said the vehicle that was identified in the CCTV footage had been recovered from a village in Patiala. They added that the number of the vehicle was fake, and that the accused, too, had been caught on camera installed in the area.

Teams had been dispatched to three different places in Punjab where the accused were likely to be traced to. Mobile dump data of the scene of crime is being obtained, they said.

Chandigarh Police have said adequate security has been provided round the clock to both the brothers in wake of the firing incident.