Commission agent shot dead in Sathiala

A commission agent Gurdeep Singh, alias Gokha, a resident of Sathiala, was shot dead by three armed assailants in Sathiala village falling under Baba Bakala sub-division in broad daylight here on Wednesday.

The incident led to panic in the area. Gokha died on the spot while police officials, including Amritsar (Rural) SSP Charanjit Singh and SP (D) Harinder Singh Gill, rushed to the spot and took the body in possession for a post-mortem examination.

The police is working on different theories, including possible gang rivalry, to solve the murder case. “We have some clues and are working on them. We will go by ground leads rather than on social media posts. We will share details that come after the investigation,” said Charanjit Singh, SSP, Amritsar (Rural), while talking to The Tribune.

Nevertheless, hours after the murder, notorious gangster Satnam Singh, alias Satta Naushehra, a resident of Tarn Taran, has claimed responsibility for the murder on social media platform. Satta claimed that Gokha was killed as he was an alleged associate of another notorious gangster Balwinder Singh Donny. Donny was wanted by the police in many criminal cases including attempt to murder, robbery and extortion.

Satta Naushehra also had a number of criminal cases including extortion, firing and murder bid registered against him. He was a member of gangster-turned-terrorist Lakhbir Singh’s gang, aka Landa Harike gang.

Harinder Singh Gill, SP (D), said shooters were yet to be identified. He said police teams were scanning footage of the CCTV cameras installed in the area to identify the suspects.

The police said Gokha was sitting at his shop in the afternoon when three assailants came there on a bike. Two of them alighted from the bike and rushed to his shop and sprayed bullets at him leaving him dead on the spot. Later, they fled from the spot on the motorcycle. Gill claimed that the suspects would be identified and arrested soon.

Initial probe revealed that Gokha and Donny had an armed case registered against them two years ago.