Murder case: Third suspect arrested after gunfight

The Batala police arrested a murder suspect, Manik Kumar, after laying a trap on the Batala-Amritsar road on late Sunday evening.

A few days ago, a youth, Jasdeep Singh alias Deep Cheema, was killed by five persons. The cops said it was a case of internecine warfare as the deceased was aligned to the Donny Bal gang. This group has a long-standing animosity with gangster Jaggu Bhagwanpuria. Several firing incidents have been reported from the city due to this ongoing rivalry.

Keeping in view the severity of the incident, DIG (Border) Sandeep Goel rushed to Batala from Amritsar yesterday evening.

A police officer said Manik was coming towards the city from the Amritsar side when the cops, who had prior information about his movements, signalled him to stop. However, the accused started firing following which the cops retaliated. Manik was injured in the crossfire and has been admitted to the Civil Hospital.

The cops have already arrested two of the accused involved in the case. They have been identified as Harvinder Harry and Savinder Singh. Manik is the third person to be arrested.

“We have definite clues of the movement of the remaining two accused and we hope to nab them soon,” said SSP Sohail Qasim Mir.

Both the Jaggu Bhagwanpuria and Donny Bal gangs are openly involved in extortion cases. The police are keeping an eye on the movements of their loyalists.