Hindustan Times (Chandigarh)

Police: Clinching evidence to prove Goldy Brar’s involvemen­t

An accused lodged in Faridkot jail had helped Goldy Brar to get in touch with two shooters

- Vishal Joshi

FARIDKOT DERA FOLLOWER’S MURDER

BATHINDA: With the recovery of clinching material evidence and nomination of three more persons as conspirato­rs in the murder of Dera Sacha Sauda follower Pardeep Kataria, Faridkot police on Saturday claimed to have establishe­d Canada-based gangster Goldy Brar’s firm link with the case.

Faridkot senior superinten­dent of police (SSP) Rajpal Singh said a murder accused, Bhola Singh, who is lodged in a local prison, has emerged as the communicat­ion link between Brar and shooters Manpreet Singh Manni and Bhupinder Singh Goldy. “Custodial interrogat­ion of the shooters revealed that Brar had contacted Bhola for the execution of the murder plan. Bhola recommende­d his brother-in-law Manni for the task, who latter came in touch with Brar. Manni then involved his friend Bhupinder in the plan,” the SSP said.

Bhola was on Saturday nominated as an accused in the crime.

“He is lodged in the Faridkot jail for the past one year and it is a matter of investigat­ion how he managed to contact Brar, who is stated to be overseas, from the inside,” he added. Dera follower Kataria, 38, an accused in the 2015 Bargari sacrilege case, was out on bail at the time of his murder. On November 17, Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav had said that Goldy Brar, an accomplice of Khalistani terrorist Harvinder Singh alias Rinda and jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, was the mastermind in Kataria’s murder.

Two more arrested Investigat­ors said that all six shooters involved in the crime had arrived in Faridkot’s Jaitu town on November 9, a day before Kataria’s murder. After killing him, they abandoned their motorcycle­s and fled in two cars waiting for them at Bajakhana, 15km from the crime site in Kotkapura.

“Vicky Chauhan and Swaran Singh, who were arrested today, had taken a marriage palace on lease at Jaitu,” the SSP said.

“In a joint operation with the counter-intelligen­ce wing, we establishe­d that the two had provided logistical support, including stay, food and clothes, to the six shooters at the resort. Both were well aware of the murder conspiracy. In fact, Swaran took

Manni, Bhupinder and another shooter from Haryana, identified as Hooda as of now who is only one at large, after the murder to Chandigarh,” he added.

The police have also recovered the Maruti Ritz car used to drop the accused at an unspecifie­d

place in Chandigarh from where they went to different places.

Two pistols used by Manni and Bhupinder, who were nabbed from Hoshiarpur on November 17, to eliminate Kataria have been seized as well.

 ?? ?? Pardeep Kataria was gunned down on November 10.
Pardeep Kataria was gunned down on November 10.

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