Two minors among 3 shooters held for dera follower’s murder
There were six assailants of two modules - four from Haryana and two from Punjab; Goldy Brar, Lawrence Bishnoi behind the attack, say Delhi cops
FARDIKOT/ NEW DELHI: A team of the Delhi Police on Friday arrested a 26-year-old man and apprehended two minors in connection with the killing of Dera Sacha Sauda follower Pardeep Singh in Faridkot district on Thursday.
Singh, an accused in the 2015 sacrilege cases, was shot dead by six assailants at his shop on Hari Nau road in Kotkapura on Thursday morning. His security guard Hakam Singh and another shopkeeper Amar Singh also sustained injuries in the attack, which was caught on CCTV.
Delhi police special commissioner (special cell) HGS Dhaliwal said on Friday: “There were a total of six assailants of two modules - Punjab and Haryana. Four from Haryana and two are from Punjab module. A team of special cell raided in Bakshiwala village in Patiala district at around 3 am on Friday and arrested three of Haryana module. The fourth absconding member of Haryana module is identified as person with an alias — Hooda.”
Deputy commissioner of police (special cell) Manishi Chandra identified the accused who was arrested Jitender Lal, a resident of Rohtak, Haryana. He said the two juveniles who were detained were also Haryana residents — one from Rohtak and the other from Bhiwani.
He added that Canada-based gangster Goldy Brar and his two men along with Lawrence Bishnoi had planned the attack on Singh. Both gangsters are also accused in the murder of Congress leader Sidhu Moose Wala on May 29 in Mansa district of Punjab. After Thursday’s attack, Brar had claimed responsibility on social media.
Faridkot senior superintendent of police (SSP) Rajpal Singh said that the two shooters from Punjab module were identified as Bhupinder Singh alias Goldy and Manpreet Singh alias Mani of Faridkot district. He said efforts are on to arrest them.
“We were on the lookout for Jitender since January 27, 2022 when a man was murdered in Alipur. When the CCTV footage went viral on Thursday, our team identified one of the gunmen as Jitender, who has been on the run for the last several months. Our team began an intensive probe, which led us to Bakshiwala in Patiala, Punjab where Jitender had taken shelter at a hideout arranged by Goldy Brar,” said DCP Chandra.
“We also found out that while Jitender is an old accomplice of gangsters Brar, Bishnoi and Kala Kathedi, the two apprehended juveniles were connected to Brar by Ankit Sirsa, an accused in the murder of Sidhu Moosewala,” he added. Pardeep Singh was an accused in a case of theft of a bir (copy) of the Guru Granth Sahib from Faridkot’s Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village June 2015. He was also an accused in a case linked to torn pages of the Sikh holy book found scattered at Bargari village in the same district in October 2015. He was granted bail on August 3, 2021.
The October 2015 sacrilege incident had led to protests across Punjab during which two people were killed in police firing.
Singh’s killing came a week after Shiv Sena (Taksali) leader Sudhir Suri was gunned down in Amritsar. Both Singh and Suri had been granted police protection.
Meanwhile, Pardeep Singh’s gunman Hakam Singh was on Friday shifted to a hospital in Ludhiana for further treatment, while Amar Singh’s condition is stable, officer familiar with the matter said.
Pardeep’s body was kept at the Dera Sacha Sauda sect at Kotkapura where followers gathered on Friday. The family had demanded that the police investigate the case expeditiously. After number of meetings between the district administration and the Dera’s state committee members, who were talking on behalf of the family, they agreed to cremate Pardeep Singh’s body after assurances by the police.
Inspector general of police (IGP) Ferozepur range Jaskaran Singh said: “The security of the family is our responsibility and required arrangements will be made. Police have identified all the accused and three have been apprehended, remaining will also be arrested soon. I request everyone to maintain communal
harmony so we can curb the anti-social elements,” he said.
Dera state committee member Harcharan Singh said: “We have discussed this with other Dera followers. All have
demanded that the probe should be conducted properly. Investigations in the murder of Dera followers in the past are incomplete so police must complete this probe,” he said.