Duo arrested with weapons planned to kill sarpanch: Cops

A day after the Ludhiana police arrested two suspects with illegal weapons, their investigation led to startling disclosures that one of them, the key suspect, Jashandeep Singh, had arranged weapons to kill the village sarpanch. He made four of his friends part of the murder conspiracy.

Jashandeep and his aide Gagandeep Singh were arrested on Friday in the case. Three .32 bore pistols along with six cartridges and a Mahindra Thar were seized from the suspects.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Investigation) Shubham Aggarwal, ADCP (Investigation) Amandeep Singh Brar and CIA in-charge inspector Rajesh Kumar addressed a press conference in this regard on Saturday.

The DCP said the suspect, Jashandeep Singh Jashan, a resident of Lalto Kalan village, told the police that he had gone to Polytechnic College, Rishi Nagar, to file nomination papers for the post of sarpanch during the panchayat elections held in October where he clashed with the opposing group. After the incident, the PAU police had registered a cross case against both parties.

He said Jashandeep’s nomination papers were rejected owing to some shortcomings by the election officer but papers of the other person with whom he had a clash were accepted and he also won the elections. After the election results, Jashandeep started nursing a grudge against the person who was elected as the village sarpanch and then he decided to kill him.

The DCP said Jashandeep, along with his associates Gagandeep Singh, alias Gagan, of Lalto Kalan, Akashdeep Singh, alias Pannu, of Kharar, Gagandeep Singh, alias Gaggu, alias Gyani, of Lalto Kalan and Ketan of Haryana had planned to murder the sarpanch.

Meanwhile, ADCP (Crime) Amandeep Brar said police parties were formed to conduct raids to nab the three remaining suspects in the case, Akashdeep, Gaggu and Ketan.

Brar revealed that the trio had a criminal past. A case is already registered against Jashandeep at the PAU police station in October this year but he came out of jail on bail. At the same time, seven cases, including murder, are registered against Akashdeep and he came out on bail from the nabha Jail on December 22, 2022. Gaggu, who is facing one case, was also out on bail.

Interestingly, as per the police, the suspects had also brought a Mahindra Thar on rent in which they had kept illegal weapons and the vehicle was to be used in committing the murder.