NIA to probe RSS leader’s killing

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 20

The state government has decided to hand over the murder case of RSS leader Ravinder Gosain to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The order for the NIA probe was issued on a request by an RSS delegation that met Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh at his residence here on Thursday.

On Tuesday morning, two motorcycle-borne assailants had shot dead Gosain in Ludhiana.

This is the first murder case which has been referred to the NIA. Earlier, it handled the fidayeen attack on the Pathankot airbase in January 2016. It will be a huge challenge for the agency as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), apart from the Punjab Police, had failed to crack previous targeted killings.

The CBI is probing the killing of senior RSS leader Brigadier Jagdish Gagneja (retd) and Mata Chand Kaur, mother of the Namdhari sect’s head.

Capt Amarinder justified the decision to rope in NIA on the grounds that the killing had international ramifications.

A government spokesperson said the Chief Minister had announced Rs5-lakh compensation for Gosain’s family and a government job, commensurate with the educational qualification, for one of the four children of the deceased.

Gosain, an instructor with the Ludhiana unit of the RSS, had lost his wife to cancer a few years ago.

The investigation into similar incidents suggested that the handlers of the assailants were operating from abroad, the spokesperson said, adding Captain Amarinder felt that with the NIA stepping in, it would lead to a better coordination between the Central agencies and the Punjab Police.

Capt Amarinder condemned Gosain’s killing, saying there was no place for violence in the state. Asserting that his government would not tolerate lawlessness, he said it was taking all measures to prevent targeted killings.