RSS leader’s killing: NIA arrests another arms supplier

NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday said it has arrested another arms supplier involved in the murder of RSS leader Ravinder Gosain in Ludhiana.

An NIA official told IANS: “The agency has arrested Malook who is accused of providing weapons to the assailants who killed Gosain.”

The arrest was made during a joint operation by the NIA and the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, an accused, Pahar Singh, was arrested from his residence in Meerut on charges of supplying a home-made weapon to the main accused, Hardeep Singh.

The NIA earlier had arrested Ramandeep and Hardeep Singh for the murder of Gosain, 60, who was shot dead on October 17 near his house while returning after a morning RSS meeting.

The NIA said their probe has revealed that Hardeep Singh had visited Meerut on three occasions during in the last two years to procure weapons to carry out the targeted killings of members of the RSS and other organisations.

“Around April or May this year, Hardeep Singh procured a .315 bore country made weapon from Pahar Singh at his house. This weapon was recovered and seized at the instance of Hardeep Singh subsequent to his arrest by Punjab police last month,” the NIA statement revealed.

The NIA was also looking for Iqbal, a resident of Hapur district for giving shelter to Malook.

NIA teams are reportedly searching for him in the National Capital Region.

On Sunday, a team of NIA and Uttar Pradesh Police was attacked by a mob when it raided Nahali village in Ghaziabad district in pursuit of the accused.

Constable Tahzib Khan suffered a leg injury when the mob stoned the raiding team and even fired at them.

The mob also damaged an official vehicle. The NIA took over the case from Punjab Police.