Mystery shrouds druglord Gopa’s murder; cops mum
Avneet Kaur & Gurbaxpuri
Jalandhar/Tarn Taran, May 18
The murder of Gurpreet Singh, alias Gopa, an international drug smuggler wanted in several cases, including the seizure of 532 kg heroin at the Attari check-post in 2019, remains shrouded in mystery as the Jalandhar police continue to remain mum on the incident.
Breaking his silence during the druglord’s cremation at Sarai Amanat Khan village, Tarn Taran, on Wednesday, his father Jasbir Singh alleged that someone close to Gopa was responsible for his death.
Jasbir Singh, who was a co-accused in the Attari case, is currently out on bail.
Despite alleged efforts of the police to prevent him from making a public statement, he expressed surprise over his son’s presence in Jalandhar and suggested that personal enmity might have led to his murder.
A resident of Sarai Amanat Khan village confirmed that Gopa’s body was cremated on Wednesday and Jasbir Singh performed the last rites. He mentioned that the family had left the place following the 2019 case, but Jasbir Singh occasionally visited the village after being released on bail. The Jalandhar police, however, are yet to issue an official statement, maintaining that an investigation into the incident was going on.
However, it is baffling how Gopa, wanted by the NIA and the Punjab Police for the past five years, was travelling freely and was in Jalandhar.
Suggesting that competition in the drug trade could be a motive for Gopa’s murder, sources linked it to the 2019 murder of Harpreet Singh Chintu, another drug smuggler. Chintu was killed on the instructions of Navpreet Singh Navi (drug smuggler). Additionally, the police were reportedly investigating Gopa’s links to the recent seizure of 48 kg heroin, as one of the arrested suspects in the case, Malkit Singh, is Gopa’s brother-in-law.
Sources said Gopa had been living in Jalandhar’s Mithapur after acquiring a new identity. He was shot at by an unidentified assailant near Wadala Chowk, Jalandhar, last Sunday and succumbed to his injuries at Government Medical College, Amritsar, on Monday. The Bhargo Camp police registered a case after 30 hours, initially under Section 307, IPC, and Section 25, Arms Act. After Gopa’s death, charges under Sections 302 (murder) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) were added. Jalandhar CP Swapan Sharma said a probe was underway and they were yet to verify if the deceased was Gopa. The Tarn Taran police, on the other hand, confirmed that the man cremated at Sarai Amanat Khan village on Wednesday was Gopa.
