Jagraon murder mystery solved, 3 nabbed

LUDHIANA: With the arrest of three youths, the Jagraon police today claimed to have solved the mystery behind the murder of Gurpreet Singh, alias Gopi, a youth of Deharka village, near Jagraon, whose mutilated body was found near the canal outside Chachowali village, near Jalandhar, on January 10.

The accused in police custody on Saturday. Tribune photo

Jaswant Shetra

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 20

With the arrest of three youths, the Jagraon police today claimed to have solved the mystery behind the murder of Gurpreet Singh, alias Gopi, a youth of Deharka village, near Jagraon, whose mutilated body was found near the canal outside Chachowali village, near Jalandhar, on January 10. Those arrested in the case are Lovedish Sandhu, Harwinder Singh, alias Feeta, of Maherhu village; and Jatinder Singh Gill of Gohir village, near Nakoder, in Jalandhar district.

According to the police, the suspects killed Gurpreet because he had been blackmailing Sandhu’s sister on the pretext of uploading her objectionable pictures on the Internet. The police have recovered two sharp weapons and one motorcycle allegedly used by the suspects in the crime. The police have also recovered two mobile phones, 2 ATM cards and the Aadhaar card of Gurpreet from the location disclosed by the suspects.

Jagraon SSP said Gurpreet Singh, alias Gopi, had gone missing after he had left his house for Patiala on December 30. “During investigation, the police traced the last location of Gurpreet’s mobile phone near Ludhiana Bus Stand,” said the SSP.

The Ludhiana police could not trace the suspects and they handed over the case to the Jagraon police on the demand of Gurpreet’s family on January 18. The Jagraon police arrested the three suspects from Amritsar where they had been staying after murdering Gurpreet.

“Gurpreet had been blackmailing Lovedish Sandhu’s sister on the pretext of uploading her objectionable pictures on the Internet. He even raped her in a hotel in Ludhiana. When Lovedish came to know about this, he, along with Jatinder and Harwinder, planned to eliminate Gurpreet,” said the SSP.

As per the plan, Jatinder Gill called Gurpreet Singh to Ludhiana to meet him. “Jatinder, Lovedish and Harwinder met Gurpreet in Ludhiana on December 30 from where they took him towards Jalandhar on a motorcycle. After reaching the canal near Chachowali village, the trio attacked Gurpreet Singh and killed him with sharp weapons. Before leaving the place, they also took away two mobile phones, ATM cards and the Aadhaar card of Gurpreet,” added the SSP.