Two shooters among three more accused held in Amritsar NRI shooting case

PTI, Aug 27, 2024, 8:21 AM IST

Amritsar/Hoshiarpur: Two days after an NRI was shot at inside his house in Amritsar, Punjab Police on Monday apprehended two shooters and another accused from Hoshiarpur.

In a joint operation, the district police of Hoshiarpur and Amritsar arrested the three accused allegedly involved in connection with the incident.

The arrests were made from a ‘dharmashala’ (inn) in Hoshiarpur, police said.

Two criminals, Sukhwinder alias Sukha and Gurkirat Singh alias Guri, were allegedly hired to kill Sukhchain Singh, who had recently returned from the US, Amritsar Police had earlier said.

Hoshiarpur Superintendent of Police (Investigation) Sarbjit Singh Bahia on Monday said the police, acting on a tip-off, raided a ‘dharmashala’ located in the busy Gaushala Bazar area, leading to the arrest of Gurkirat Singh and Sukhwinder.

Another suspect Sukhwinder Sabi was also nabbed, police said.

The three were wanted by police in connection with the incident in which the NRI was shot at inside his house in Amritsar.

On Sunday, a day after the shooting incident, police had arrested five people, including Sarwan Singh — father of the victim’s first wife — in connection with the incident. Sarwan Singh is a resident of the Bains village in Hoshiarpur.

Police had also booked US-based Sukhwinder Singh, Kuljinder Kaur and her husband Jasvir Singh. Sukhwinder and Kuljinder are the brother and sister of Singh’s first wife.

Sukhchain, who recently returned from the US, was shot at here and injured in front of his wife and his two children from his first marriage.

The assailants had intercepted Sukhchain Singh when he was leaving his house in the Daburji village for morning walk on Saturday. They barged into his house and fired three shots at him before fleeing. Two of the bullets hit the victim — one in the head and the other near the chest, police said, adding that he was stated to be out of danger.

Amritsar Police Commissioner Ranjit Singh Dhillon had said on Saturday the attack was carried out at the behest of the family of his first wife.

His first wife had committed suicide in December 2022 and her family had a grudge against him, Dhillon had said.

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Amritsar on Monday evening, Ranjit Dhillon said they have recovered the weapons — three pistols — and a bike allegedly used in the crime.

In Amritsar, Dhillon further said that during the initial investigation, it came to light that the victim’s brother-in-law Sukhwinder was allegedly in contact with accused Gurkirat Singh through his friend Manpreet Singh alias Manna.

Sukhwinder is the brother of the NRI’s first wife.

Police had earlier said a case has been registered against five relatives of NRI’s first wife.

So, Sukhwinder Singh allegedly talked to accused Gurkirat Singh around five months back and told him that he wanted to take revenge for the death of his sister, the police commissioner said.

Sukhchain Singh’s house was reccied by Gurkirat two months ago and three pistols were also provided to him by the accused for this crime, he said.

Thereafter, the three accused came to Amritsar with pistols and stayed in different hotels. Shooters Gurkirat Singh and Sukhwinder Singh went to Sukhchain Singh’s house as employees of a car agency and Sukhwinder Singh alias Sabi was asked to keep surveillance outside the house, according to police.

After committing the crime, they went to Khadoor Sahib in the Tarn Taran district on a motorcycle, parked the motorcycle in the parking lot of Gurdwara Sahib, came back to Amritsar and hid the three pistols in a canal area and came to the hotel. Thereafter, they went to Hoshiarpur with their belongings, the police officer said.

Dhillon said that shooters were promised Rs 15 lakh to carry out the crime.