Vicky Middukhera murder case: Four accused sent to judicial custody

Tribune News Service

Gaurav Kanthwal

Mohali, May 9

A local court today sent four accused in the YAD leader Vicky Middukhera’s murder case to judicial custody.

The police have recovered the weapons used in the crime. The vehicle, an i20 car, has been recovered from Yamunanagar. However, there are still several aspects of the case on which the police could not provide any clarity. The identity of the fourth suspect accompanying the shooters is still not clear. More than eight months after the murder, police officials have not been able to ascertain the motive of the murder. Shagunpreet, manager of a singer, who has been named in the FIR, continues to elude the police. Sources said he fled to Australia on April 6, following which a look out circular (LOC) was issued against him. Shagunpreet provided accommodation to the killers and helped them in conducting a recce before the murder, said the police.

The police said three .30-bore pistols, along with six rounds, and one 9mm pistol

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with two rounds had been recovered. The DSP, City-1, Sukhnaaz Singh said, “During investigation, the police recovered the weapons from Ambala, Lalru and Yamunanagar. The car with a fake number plate has been been recovered from Yamunanagar.”

After committing the crime, the suspects fled towards Dehradun and later stayed in a hideout in Bengaluru, he added.

The investigating team has not been able to ascertain the identity of the fourth suspect accompanying the killers. The sources said the trio identified him as Sombir but the have not been able to pinpoint the person.

Sukhnaaz said the four accused are “shooters and their accomplices” who committed the murder. “The motive of the murder is still not clear. Once other accomplices are nabbed, further details will emerge,” he said.

Three gangsters, Sajjan, alias Bholu (37) of Jhajjar in Haryana, Anil Kumar Latth (32) of Delhi and Sunny (20) of Kurukshetra, all active members of the Bambiha group, were nabbed by Delhi police for Middukhera’s murder. Two more gangsters, Bhuppi Rana and Amit Dagar, were named in the FIR later. The police claimed the duo were tasked by Lucky Padial, a gangster lodged in an Armenian jail, to arrange the logistics for the murder. The police have now concluded that “Kaushal Chaudhary (another Bambiha group member), Amit Dagar and Lucky Padial are friends and the shooting was carried out on Padial’s instructions.

The case

On August 7 last year, four assailants came in a white car bearing a Mohali registration number in the parking lot of the Sector 71 market where Vicky Middukhera had come to meet his friend, a property dealer. Two of the four masked men chased him and fired at him around 20 rounds as he was about to sit in his SUV. Nine bullets hit the victim as he ran for cover, scaling the wall of the community centre nearby. The assailants fled the spot, but the sensational killing was caught on CCTV camera.