Akali leader murder: Man arrested for harbouring accused

POLICE RECOVER .32-BORE PISTOL FROM ACCUSED, A RESIDENT OF GURDASPUR; HIS AIDE ARRESTED TOO

AMRITSAR: Police on Tuesday arrested a man for allegedly harbouring the accused involved in the murder of the husband of Akali sarpanch at Umarpura village.

Police have recovered a .32-bore pistol from the arrested accused, identified as Lovepreet Singh, alias Love, of Gurdaspur. Police have also rounded up Lovepreet’s aide Raman Masih.

Gurdeep Singh, 52, of Umarpura village in Majitha constituency in Amritsar was shot dead by three bike-borne men on January 1 when he was returning home after paying obeisance at the village gurdwara.

The assailants had pumped eight bullets into Gurdeep, who was sarpanch of the village from 2014 to 18.

The victim’s wife, Gurjit Kaur, 50, is the present sarpanch of the village.

IS CLOSE ASSOCIATE OF MAIN ACCUSED: SSP

Senior superintendent of police (Ssp-rural), Vikramjit Singh Duggal, said: “We came to know about Lovepreet’s involvement in the case during investigation. He is a close associate of the main accused.”

Earlier, police booked Harmanjit Singh and his father Nirmal Singh of the same village, Harwinder Singh Sandhu of Pandoori village, Balraj Singh, alias Buri, of Basant Kot in Amritsar, Inderbir Singh, and one Manbir Singh, a son of a Punjab Police assistant-sub-inspector under Sections 302 (murder), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon) 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 the members of Pavitar gang.

Two days after the incident, the police had booked five persons, relatives of Harmanjit and Harwinder, for harbouring the accused.

Those booked included Harmanjit’s mother Gurjit Kaur (a namesake of the sarpanch) of Umarpura village, Manjit Singh, Sukhwinder Singh, Bakhsish Singh and Kulbir Singh of Pandoori village.

The SSP said, “We are examining the role of these five persons. Once their roles are confirmed, they will also be arrested.”

Harmanjit’s mother had contested elections against Gurdeep’s wife in December 2018, and the kin of the deceased have been alleging political revelry behind the murder.