Punjabi singer, friend shot at, 2 gangsters claim credit
Popular Punjabi singer Parmish Verma, 31, and his friend, Kulwant Singh Chahal were shot at in Mohali at 12.30am on Saturday when they were returning from an event in Chandigarh. Police rushed the two to Fortis Hospital, where they were said to be stable and out of danger. The hospital statement said Parmish was injured in the knee.
“Parmish and Kulwant sustained a bullet injury each in the leg. We recovered six cartridges from a .315-bore gun,” senior superintendent of police Kuldeep Singh Chahal said.
Parmish is the son of Satish Kumar Verma, a former professor of Punjabi at Punjabi University, Patiala, and shot to fame with the hit, ‘Gaal ni kadni (Don’t abuse)’, that has been viewed 118 million times on YouTube. Released last year, the popularity of the song coincides with the state police’s crackdown on gangsters. His single, Shada, has got 27 million views on YouTube since its release three weeks ago. Parmish’s father has written songs for legendary Punjabi singer Gurdas Maan and is also a playwright and theatre director.
Parmish was driving his black Toyota Fortuner to his house in Savitry Towers, Sector 91, Mohali, and Kulwant was seated beside him. Police said a white Hyundai Creta was following them from Elante Mall.
Parmish, who was accompanied by two bouncers from Elante, had dropped them off at Homeland Heights crossing minutes before the incident. The Creta intercepted Parmish’s vehicle at the entrance of Sector 74, Mohali, en route to Verma’s apartment. A man alighted and fired the six bullets.
MOTIVE A MYSTERY
Police said that the motive was unclear though two Punjab gangsters had claimed responsibility.
Gangster Dilpreet Singh Dhahan posted a message on Facebook along with a picture of himself holding a pistol and another of Verma with a cross on it. “Mein Dilpreet Singh Dhahan sariya nu dasna chaunda k ajj Parmish Verma de goliya bazian apa mariya. (I, Dilpreet Singh Dhahan, want to tell everyone that I’m behind the shooting of Parmish Verma),” said the post, the first on his Facebook profile this year. Dilpreet had threatened Parmish in April, too.
The police said another gangster, Sampat Nehra, also claimed responsibility. “These claims could be to mislead investigation but the involvement of gangsters can’t be ruled out,” the SSP said.
Police officials privy to investigation said Dilpreet had been making extortion calls to Parmish. Police have rounded up four people for questioning but no arrests were made till the filing of the report. The police have procured CCTV footage of incident .
PARMISH, WHO SHOT TO FAME WITH HIS SONG ‘GAAL NI KADNI’ IS THE SON OF EXPUNJABI UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR SATISH KUMAR VERMA
SAMPAT NEHRA
On the list of the most wanted criminals of Chandigarh, Haryana and Punjab police departments, gangster Nehra is son of an assistant sub-inspector with the Chandigarh police.
A resident of Sector-26 police lines in Chandigarh, he was in the news for allegedly freeing undertrial Deepak Kumar from police custody on June 17, 2017, in Panchkula. His Facebook status says,’ Bure hai ham tabhi to zinda hai ache hote to duniya jeene nhi dete’ (We are bad that’s why we are alive, if we were good, the world would not have let us live). He had tried his luck in student politics and was the campus chairman of the Student Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU). In January 2016, Patiala police had arrested Nehra, and four others, in a case of stealing from ATMs.
DILPREET SINGH
Figuring among 17 A-category gangsters of Punjab police, Dilpreet hails from Dhahan village near Nurpur Bedi in Ropar and is named as an accused in 16 cases.
He has taken to Facebook claiming to have shot the Punjabi singer. On April 9, 2017, he was caught on camera shooting at Hoshiarpur sarpanch Satnam Singh, 38, outside a gurdwara in Chandigarh.
Punjab Police sources say he is into extortion and contract killing. His father, a veterinary inspector, died in January 2017. Police also claim that Dilpreet took to crime to avenge an assault on himself in the village, but now has links with the Vicky Gounder gang. Dilpreet had escaped while being taken back to jail from a Ropar court in May 2016. Ropar SSP Raj BS Sandhu has met his family at least twice since December to push for surrender.