CHANDIGARH: A month after veteran journalist KJ Singh and his 92-year old mother Gurcharan Kaur were murdered, the Punjab police finally arrested a 27-year-old man in connection with the incident. The man, identified as Gaurav Kumar, reportedly got into a tiff with KJ Singh before stabbing him with a kitchen knife.
Senior superintendent of police of SAS Nagar Kuldeep Singh Chahal said, “The man was sitting in a park close to Singh’s house and was constantly eyeing the house. After a while, Singh got suspicious and approached the man. This led to an argument. Singh reportedly slapped Gaurav and told him to leave. Gaurav left the scene, but later came back and murdered Singh. His mother was strangled to death as she witnessed the crime.”
On Wednesday, the man was driving KJ Singh’s car — which he stole after murdering him —when the police signalled him to stop the car on suspicion that it carried a fake number plate.
Police said the kitchen knife, which was used to slay KJ Singh was recovered. Besides, the stolen Ford Ikon car, its documents, a mobile phone, a wrist-watch and a DVR were also found in possession of the man.
Chahal said the accused executed the double murder on his own.
The post-mortems of KJ Singh and Kaur revealed they were stabbed and strangled. Singh was stabbed in the stomach and his throat was slit. His bedridden mother was strangulated.
Singh had earlier worked with several leading newspapers. The veteran journalist and his mother were murdered at their residence in B2 area in Mohali on September 23.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to probe the murder on orders of Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh. The SIT was led by Inspector General of Police (Crime) Shashi Prabha.