CHANDIGARH: Police have formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the attack on senior RSS leader Jagdish Gagneja, who is in a critical condition after being shot at late on Saturday evening in Jalandhar.
The 65-year-old RSS Punjab vice-president who had gone to the local market with his wife, Sudesh Rani, was shot three times by two masked motorcycle-borne youths. Doctors have removed two bullets from his abdomen, while a third one, lodged near the liver, is yet to be taken out.
He was operated on at the Patel Hospital in Jalandhar till 3.30 am on Sunday and was then shifted to the Dayanand Medical College & Hospital on the instructions of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.
Jalandhar Police Commissioner Arpit Shukla said, “Two masked assailants, around 20 years old, who wore black and yellow patkas (headgear traditionally worn by Sikh boys), were riding the bike. As there was a security threat to Gagneja, we had given two armed personnel to him around two weeks ago, but he refused police protection,” Shukla added.
The BJP expressed concern over the deteriorating law and order situation in the state and decided to meet Chief Minister Badal on Monday. The party leaders also demanded security to the RSS top brass in the state.
“The attack was pre-planned. The RSS leader was being followed,” said state BJP president Vijay Sampla.
The RSS leader’s son, Rahul Gagneja, is a Major in the Army.