Lawyer, who was shot at, dies; Dist Bar Association to hold protest

Lakhwinder Singh, a lawyer, who was shot at by armed assailants in the Jandiala Guru area on July 22, succumbed to his injuries at a private hospital here on Saturday.

A wave of shock and grief engulfed the family. The victim had been fighting for life in a private hospital since the incident. The police had arrested three persons, including aides of gangster Happy Jatt, in the case.

The Amritsar Bar Association on Saturday boycotted work and expressed sympathy with the bereaved family. The association threatened to stage a dharna outside the district court in protest against the police, which have failed to nab the key conspirators in the incident.

The police handed over the body of Lakhwinder Singh after an autopsy to the family and the cremation took place at Jandiala Guru. Members of the Amritsar Bar Association were also present during the victim’s cremation.

Lakhwinder Singh, who was practicing at the Amritsar court, was shot at by five persons riding on two motorcycles when he was heading to the district court on July 21.

Earlier, the police had arrested Lovepreet Singh of Amritsar in this regard. Following his arrest, the police had claimed that the incident was the outcome of a personal enmity while denying the involvement of any gangster.

However, later the police nabbed two shooters from Dehradun in Uttarakhand and recovered two pistols from them. Both the accused were allegedly operatives of notorious gangster Happy Jatt, who had allegedly fled to foreign shores after dodging the intelligence agencies.

They were identified as Manminder Singh, alias Harman, alias Billa, a resident of Bazigar Basti in Faridkot, and Manpreet Singh, alias Mani, alias Kala Papa, of Khalsa Nagar here.

The police had booked Balwinder Singh of Boparai village, Gurpreet Singh, Ajaypal Singh, Abhi and Angrej Singh following the statement of Daljit Singh, brother of the victim, who had told the police that the accused suspect that Lakhwinder Singh, who was contesting the case from their side, has been supporting the opposite group also.

Meanwhile, the police have recovered five weapons smuggled from Pakistan during the interrogation of Manminder and Manpreet. Among the weapons seized included two .32 bore pistols, 9mm pistol and a .30 bore pistol. Besides, 24 bullets were also recovered from them.

SP Aditya Warrior said Manrpreet faced six criminal cases while Manminder had three cases registered under the NDPS Act against him.

Investigations revealed that they had acted on the directions of Abhi, who was still absconding and a hunt was on to nab him.