Patiala bizman’s murder cracked with rival’s arrest
Case solved within hours, say police; professional rivalry triggered crime as the victim was bagging most labour contracts in the area
PATIALA : Businessman Darshan Singla (55) of Sunam was shot dead by his professional rival, Pawan Bajaj, in Patiala on Thursday, police said after arresting him within six hours of the incident.
Addressing a press conference on Friday, Punjab Police inspector general MS Chinna and senior superintendent of police Varun Sharma said that Bajaj, a resident of Patiala’s Urban Estate, was a professional competitor of Singla and jealous of his rise in the business.
Singla was one of the biggest contractors of outsourced employees for the Punjab government. He had got some contracts of the accused, too, and it was out of professional rivalry that Bajaj nursed a grudge. He had been filing complaints against Singla over the past five years. Singla responded by lodging complaints against Bajaj, who eventually planned the murder.
IG Chinna said: “We took the murder as a challenge and the police in three neighbouring districts locked the entry-exit points of Patiala. Taking help of CCTV footage, the police identified the accused and used advance surveillance techniques to trace his movement. He was arrested at Nabha Road when he was trying to escape after abandoning his motorcycle.”
Chinna said that the accused was upset as Singla was bagging most of the government contracts and he was losing out. Besides, there was a dispute between the two over contract for labour at Government Medical College and Hospital in Sector 32, Chandigarh.
SSP Sharma said that the police have impounded the motorcycle and confiscated his licensed weapon that was used to commit the crime.
Singla was shot five times in his office on Thursday. He was targeted inside his office on the busy Nabha Road by the bikeborne assailant, the investigators said, adding he was rushed to the Rajindra Hospital in a critical condition, where was pronounced dead on arrival, the police said.
The police said that Singla had come from Sunam and opened his office. He was engaged in his routine work when the assailant arrived on a Royal Enfield and opened fire from his revolver.
The post-mortem showed that he suffered three bullet wounds in the head and two in the back.
A case was registered under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code.