Chandigarh, March 19 In a joint operation by the Punjab Police and the Special Task Force of the Haryana Police, two alleged shooters involved in the murder of a property dealer here were apprehended following an exchange of fire in Kaithal, Haryana, on Thursday, officials said.
The property dealer, Charanpreet Singh (31), a resident of the Mullanpur area in the Mohali district, was shot dead in Sector 9, Chandigarh, on Wednesday. The shooters, who arrived on a motorcycle, fled after the crime.
The two accused – Rajan alias Piyush Pehalwan of Ferozepur and Pritam Shah from Nawanshahr – are key associates of the fugitive gangster Lucky Patial of the Bambiha gang, officials said.
Based on human and technical intelligence, the team of the Punjab Police's Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) traced the accused to Kaithal, a Punjab Police official said.
Piyush came from Malaysia via Nepal to carry out the killing on the directions of his foreign-based handler, said Additional Director General of Police, AGTF, Promod Ban.
When the team tried to apprehend the accused, they opened fire at the police personnel led by AGTF Superintendent of Police Bikramjit Singh Brar.
The AGTF team retaliated, and the two accused sustained bullet injuries. They were taken to the hospital, the official said.
The police recovered three weapons – a .30 bore PX-5 pistol, a .30 caliber Chinese pistol, and a .32 caliber pistol – along with ammunition and a motorcycle from the accused.
Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav said the accused are key associates of the fugitive gangster Lucky Patial of the Bambiha gang.
Preliminary investigation also revealed that Rajan alias Piyush Pehalwan is also wanted in the high-profile murder of Yadwinder Singh, the driver of Jiwanjot Singh alias Jugnu, he said.
The DGP said that the AGTF Punjab unmasked the entire module and arrested the accused in less than 30 hours. Further investigations are ongoing, he added.
Sharing operational details, ADGP, AGTF Ban said following the Chandigarh murder incident, they promptly launched a special operation 'Silent Trigger' under the supervision of Deputy Inspector General, AGTF, Gurmit Singh Chauhan to arrest the accused persons involved in this case.
Charanpreet Singh was shot dead in an upscale market of Chandigarh when he had gone to a gym.
When Singh was exiting the parking area in his SUV, one of the assailants opened fire at him. After being shot, he tried to escape by opening the door of his SUV, but the assailant came to his side and fired at him again from close range, according to the police.
The victim sustained multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to a hospital where doctors declared him dead.
Later, an unverified post appeared on social media in which gangster Lucky Patial claimed responsibility for the murder and accused Singh of passing information about the gang to its rivals.
Earlier in the day, Singh's family refused to cremate him until the shooters were apprehended.