A fatal shooting incident occurred late Monday evening in Amritsar Rural police jurisdiction that resulted in the death of Tirath Singh, son of the current village head from the Aam Aadmi Party.
In Cheete Kalan village the incident took place outside a local gurdwara and the victim was attacked by armed men. One other person was injured in the violent attack but survived.
The firing incident happened at around 7 p.m on Monday. The deceased, known as Tirath Singh, was going to the village gurdwara with his friend Ranjit Singh to pray for them in the evening.
The attackers arrived on motorcycles as the two men went out of the gurdwara to return home.
The attackers fired approximately seven to eight rounds of ammunition at them and fled from the gurdwara in their vehicles. Immediately thereafter local residents brought both wounded people to a hospital to receive immediate treatment.
Doctors declared Tirath Singh dead at the scene of the attack. The second victim, Ranjit Singh, who has been shot in the thigh, has received a single gunshot to the thigh and is currently in treatment at the hospital.
Police Identification of Suspects and Motive Investigation
The Punjab Police immediately launched a criminal investigation into the attack and filed a First Information Report against four suspects in the same incident.
Local police officials identified Gurjant Singh, Gora Singh, Harkirat Singh (who also goes by the name Hockey) and Gurditt Singh as the suspects. Law enforcement teams are currently conducting joint raids across multiple locations to apprehend the fleeing suspects, said the senior superintendent of police for Amritsar Rural, Kavalpreet Singh Chahal.
An initial investigation showed that the crime has been motivated by personal enmity instead of a clash between organized criminal gangs, the senior official said. The police are looking into personal disputes between the suspects and the families of the deceased.
Family claims regarding drug peddlers
The family of the deceased is one of the most prominent in the local community. Tirath Singh’s mother is the serving sarpanch of the village and the brother of Tirath Singh is also a leader of the Aam Aadmi Party and a member of the local Block Samiti.
Karaj Singh has become the vocal critic of the motive of the killing. The family says the attack is retaliation against them for their continuous fight against illegal drug operations in the area.
The victim’s brother said there had been a clash two days before the shooting when Tirath Singh intervened to prevent the accused people from having drugs in the village. The family claims that the suspects harbored a deep grudge against them, which culminated in the late night ambush.
Political Reactions to the Killing. Opposition parties have taken advantage of the tragedy to question government administration and the government. Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former union minister Ravneet Singh Bittu has made a public statement against the state government.
The daylight and evening shooting incidents, he said, indicate a profound deterioration in institutional security measures. If the immediate family members of elected village heads representing the ruling party are subjected to targeted violence outside of their homes, then ordinary citizens are even more at a loss for security.
The opposition has demanded that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann be held accountable for the continued increase in firearm violence and that everyone who was named in the homicide investigation be immediately arrested.
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