CHANDIGARH: Amritpal Singh, the Khadoor Sahib MP and pro-Khalistan sympathiser currently held in Assam’s Dibrugarh Central Jail under the National Security Act (NSA), has been linked to the killing of Sikh activist Gurpreet Singh.
Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav announced today that the state police have solved the murder of Gurpreet Singh, also known as Bhodi, from Hari Nau village. Three associates of gangster-turned-terrorist Arshdeep Singh, alias Arsh Dalla, who is believed to be the mastermind behind the killing, have been arrested.
"Those arrested have been identified as Bilal Ahmed alias Fauji, Guramardeep Singh alias Pontu and Arshdeep Singh alias Jhandu. As per the information, Gurpreet Singh was shot dead on October 9 this year while returning back home from the village Gurudwara on his motorcycle,’’ he said.
Yadav revealed that the investigation has uncovered that Gurpreet Singh's murder was planned from abroad by Arsh Dalla and others. He noted that separate modules were used for reccee and carrying out the killing, with different handlers abroad. The criminals employed "cut outs" to conceal their involvement in the conspiracy, he added.
"The three arrested persons constituted part of the reccee module, being handled by Canada-based Karamveer Singh alias Gora. The reccee module passed on crucial information to the shooter module through their handlers and cut outs,” he said.
Yadav said that the members of the shooter module have been identified and police teams are on manhunt to nabbing them.
"During investigations, evidence has come on record indicating the role of Amritpal Singh of Waris Punjab De (WPD) in the murder conspiracy. As per some statements recorded in the investigation, the murder was carried out at the behest of Amritpal Singh. The police would investigate the case on basis of evidence in a professional manner. All angles and theories of crime would be examined threadbare and investigated in accordance with law,’’ he said.
Yadav added that the criminal liability of all persons involved in the investigation would be determined in accordance with the evidence available as per law.
Sharing operation details, Yadav said that acting swiftly, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising police officials from the Faridkot district and State Special Operations Cell was constituted and separate teams assigned the tasks of visiting the scene of the crime and collecting physical and digital evidence.
The CCTV footage at the scene of crime was examined and teams were deputed to follow the forward and backward linkages of CCTVs to determine the entry and exit routes of the assailants. Meticulous investigations by the Faridkot District Police led to analysis of CCTV footage along a 125-kilometre stretch, which helped the police in establishing the suspects’ movements and developing lead. He said that mobile tower dumps at strategic places were obtained and analyzed through big data analysis tools.
"At the same time human intelligence was also obtained and developed and a large number of persons were questioned,’’ he said.
During investigations, information relating to wider conspiracy to target more individuals has also been received and is being probed. A case had already been registered on October 10 last year under sections 103 (1), 126 (2) and 3 (5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and section 25 of the Arms Act at Police Station Kotkapur.
Sources said that Gurpreet was among the nine primary members when ‘Waris Punjab De’ was formed in November 2021 by Deep Sidhu. He was also a key supporter of Sukhraj Singh son of Krishan Bhagwan Singh, one of the victims of the 2015 police firing incident at Behbal Kalan.