Vendor’s murder: Two contract killers among three held

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 17

The city police have cracked the sensational blind murder of a vendor, Yashpal (59), of Shaheed Udham Singh Colony, who was shot dead by unidentified assailants near the Gate Hakima police station on February 1. It turned out to be a contract killing.

The police have arrested three persons, including two contract killers, and recovered the weapon used in the crime.

Those arrested were identified as Deepak Pratap, alias Sukhpreet aka Bholu, a resident of Hargobind Avenue in Chheharta, Prince alias Boxer of Chokha Colony in Chheharta, and Danish alias Guggu of Dashmesh Nagar in Kot Khalsa. Deepak was nephew of the victim’s widowed daughter. The police also recovered a

.32 bore pistol along with two live cartridges from their possession.

Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar while addressing mediapersons here on Saturday said the assailants had fled to Haridwar after killing Yashpal.

“Based on human intelligence and elaborate technical investigation, the police teams headed by Deputy Commissioner of Police (City) Dr Pragya Jain and Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (City-1) Dr Darpan Ahluwalia have arrested all three suspects from different locations.

Bhullar said investigations revealed that one of the suspects, Deepak Bholu, was nursing a grudge against the victim as his grandparents were sent to judicial custody in a case of kidnapping got registered by Yashpal. He also suspected that the victim used to taunt his mother. Besides, accused Deepak Bholu also had a property dispute with his aunt (victim’s daughter) after the death of her husband, he added.

In order to take revenge, Bholu did a contract killing deal for Rs 1 lakh with Prince, Danish and Joban to kill Yashpal.

“Both the arrested contract killers have a criminal record and were declared proclaimed offenders in an NDPS cases in Mohali,” he said, while adding that within a couple of hours of the incident the accused committed another crime against another suspected associate of a rival gang. A separate case of attempt to murder and robbery was registered by the Cantonment police in this connection.

BSF seizes 440-gm heroin

Amritsar: Alert Border Security Force troops confiscated one packet of heroin from Bharopal border village here on Saturday. The packet was wrapped in a yellow adhesive tape containing around 440 gm of contraband. BSF spokesman in a statement issued here informed that the BSF got a specific input regarding a packet found in a farming field ahead of the barbed border fence in Bharopal village. Immediately the troops swung into action and made the seizure.

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