1 held in Jalandhar's Billa colony firing incident

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 11

The city police on Wednesday apprehended Manik Babbar, who was involved in the firing incident that took place in Billa Colony, Kala Sanghia Road, on early Tuesday morning. The arrest was made within 24 hours of reporting of the incident.

Commissioner of Police (CP) Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said the accused had been arrested from Solan in Himachal Pradesh, who had fled to the district after committing the crime. Bhullar said he was already wanted in the murder case of Davinder Singh, alias Baba, of Sehra Fields, which was registered at the New Baradari police station on February 6, 2019. The police have recovered a 9mm pistol with three live rounds and a .32 bore pistol with two live rounds from the accused.

The accused has been arrested from Solan in Himachal Pradesh, who had fled to the district after committing the crime. He was already wanted in the murder case of Davinder Singh of Sehra Fields, which was registered at the New Baradari police station on February 6, 2019. —Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, Commissioner of police

Bhullar further added that Manik had been a close aide of gangster Mani Nasa who was killed in a gang war in Delhi and who had provided Manik a shelter after the murder incident in Jalandhar. He also mentioned that Manik had been hiding in Himachal Pradesh and was involved in drug peddling as he was already booked under the NDPS Act at the Adampur police station. He stated that the accused had been living with his friends in Bhopal, Mumbai, Mohali, and other places, adding that he would supply charas at higher prices to Delhi after buying it from Kasauli, HP.

Notably, a fire incident was reported in Villa Colony on Tuesday morning in which the police have identified both the accused as Manik Babbar of Basti Bawa Khel and Abhimanyu within a few hours of the incident.

The CP stated that as per preliminary investigation the motive behind the incident was found to be personal grudge against the complainant. He said as per investigation, accused Manik Babbar had a close relationship with the complainant’s sister, adding that in a recent development, the relationship between both of them had turned sour resulting in this fire incident. An FIR with the charges of attempt to murder and Arms Act had been registered against both of them at the Bhargo Camp police station on Tuesday.

The CP said the accused would be produced in a court and his police remand would be sought to interrogate him about the hideouts of second accused Abhimanyu so that he could be arrested at the earliest.