RSS leader Ravinder Gosain shot dead in Ludhiana

LUDHIANA: RSS leader Ravinder Gosain was shot dead by two armed assailants at Basti Jodhewal here on Tuesday. The armed men were riding a yellow-coloured Honda Stunner motorcycle Gosain was the sangh pracharak at Mohan Shakha, RSS. He took two bullets and died on the spot..

Police at the crime spot in Ludhiana. Tribune photo

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, October 17

RSS leader Ravinder Gosain was shot dead by two armed assailants at Basti Jodhewal here on Tuesday.

The armed men were riding a yellow-coloured Honda Stunner motorcycle.

Gosain was the sangh pracharak at Mohan Shakha, RSS. The 60-year-old Ravinder was attached with the RSS shakha for the past 30 years. He took two bullets and died on the spot.

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Gosain, who was returning from an RSS shakha, was taken to hospital, said local BJP president Ravinder Arora.

He was shot dead on the Kailash Nagar road near his house. Ravinder was about to enter his house when the two motorcyclists fired at him. Ravinder was holding his granddaughter Dikhshita while his grandson was standing near him when he was shot at.

The CCTV footage from the area showed that the two men had been roaming in the area since morning. The assailants were wearing turbans and were masked.

BJP and RSS workers held a protest outside the Ludhiana CP office against the killing.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was in Ferozepur today, also took up the matter concerning killing of RSS leader Ravinder Gosian with Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.

Capt Amarinder told Rajnath that police have secured the CCTV footage showing the assailants and the culprits shall be arrested soon.

Significantly, last year, another senior RSS leader Jagdish Gagneja died after he was shot by bike-borne assailants in Jalandhar. The incident also comes at a time when BJP has been protesting against the killing of RSS and its own workers in Kerala.

Opposition parties, the BJP and the SAD, strongly condemned Gosain's killing.

Punjab BJP chief and Union minister Vijay Sampla alleged that the killing proved that the law and order situation had deteriorated in Punjab.

"His murder is reminiscent of the black days of terrorism," said Sampla while demanding security for RSS and BJP leaders.

I have taken up this issue with Punjab Governor V P Singh Badnore and he told me that a report on this matter has been sought from the home secretary, said Sampla.

"It is an unfortunate incident and we strongly condemn it. It is an attempt to disturb the communal harmony in Punjab," SAD spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema said.

The state government should take this incident seriously and those responsible for this heinous crime should be put behind bars, demanded Cheema, a former minister. — With agencies