M A I N   N E W S

Punjab cop’s murder: 2 fugitives shot dead, third on the run
Jupinderjit Singh/TNS

Bathinda, April 27
Two of the three undertrials who had escaped from a police van after gunning down a head constable near Maisarkhaana village on April 25 were shot dead in an encounter near Behniwal village in Mansa district early this morning.

Kulwinder Singh and Nahar Singh were killed while Kulwinder’s brother Jaswinder escaped despite a police cordon in the area.

ADGP (Law and Order) Dinkar Gupta told mediapersons this afternoon that the encounter went on for nearly two hours. The three opened fire at a police checkpoint near Behniwal village around midnight, he said.

“Two of them were killed in retaliatory fire by a police team headed by the Mansa SP but the third, Jaswinder, managed to escape,” the officer said. The ADGP claimed the third fugitive would be arrested soon.

Mansa SSP Narender Bhargava said though the accused fired five rounds, the encounter went on for nearly two hours as the firing was intermittent. But Dev Singh, the father of the two brothers, claimed his sons were caught around 10 am yesterday - nearly 15 hours before the police claimed they were killed - from a road between Maisarkhaana village and Maur Grain market.

Conflicting reports were also received from Behniwal village where the encounter took place. While some said they heard shots around 8.30 pm yesterday, others said the firing took place around 2 am today. The ADGP said rewards would be given to the police team that carried out the operation. “IG (Bathinda zone) NS Dhillon mobilised force from his entire zone. Forty SHOs headed the teams that set up around 150 checkpoints besides carrying out the combing operation,” the officer said.

He said the greatest challenge before the police was to prevent the fugitives from crossing over to Haryana or Rajasthan.