Farmers Movement Archive

Three arrested in Congress leader murder case

Delhi Police Special Cell has arrested three persons, who were allegedly involved in the murder case of a Congress leader in Punjab’s Faridkot, said a senior police officer on Sunday. The officer said that Gurlal Singh Bhalwan (34), president of the Faridkot district Youth Congress, was shot dead on Thursday evening when he was standing near his car at Jubilee Chowk in Faridkot district. He was also a Zila Parishad member from Golewala, Punjab, the police said. The accused have been identified as Gurvinder Pal (32), Sukhwinder Singh (23), and Saurabh Verma (21) – all residents of Faridkot – they said. They are allegedly members of Lawrence Vishnoi gang, who is presently in Ajmer prison, and Gurinder Pal is the key conspirator in the case, the police said, adding that the two accomplices of the arrested accused are still at large. The police said that Goldy instructed Gurvinder to kill Bhalwan on February 9 after a Facebook post by the victim on February 5 mentioned about his plans of travelling to Delhi to join the ongoing farmers’ protest at the Singhu border. He, however, could not execute the plan due to the massive crowd of protesters at Singhu and owing to tight security. According to the police, two unidentified men allegedly fired around 12 shots at the victim when he was standing near his car after coming out from a friend’s shop at Faridkot’s Jubilee Chowk. The accused then fled. Bhalwan was rushed to a hospital, where he died during treatment. Raid conducted DCP (Special Cell) Manishi Chandra said: “On Saturday, we were informed that three persons, suspected to be involved in the said murder were expected to arrive at Sarai Kale Khan and would go to their hideouts in U.P. Our teams conducted a raid and apprehended them. Two firearms and eight live cartridges were seized from their possession,” he said. Preliminary interrogation revealed that the conspiracy was hatched by Canada-based Goldy Brar, who is an associate of Vishnoi, having several heinous cases registered against him. Brar runs an extortion racket in Canada from where he targets prominent Punjab-based businessmen, he said. Goldy’s cousin Gurlal, former State president of Student Organisation of Punjab University, was killed in a gang war between Vishnoi’s gang and Bhambhia gang in Chandigarh in October last. The accused were planning to kill Bhalwan whom they suspected to be from rival Bhambhia gang, the senior police officer said. The Punjab police have been informed of the arrests and efforts to trace and apprehend the remaining accused are under way.

The Hindu

2021-02-22

NEW DELHI