Delhi Police foil plot to kill faction head of Nihang Sikh Buddha Dal

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 11

Delhi Police claim to have foiled a plot to kill a faction head of a Nihang Sikh jathebandi.

The Special Cell said Malkit Singh alias Jujhar Singh and Bhupinder Singh were arrested from Delhi’s Shalimar Bagh and two pistols and 20 cartridges were seized from them.

They also intended to eliminate a-witness in a 2010 murder case in which Malkit, currently out on parole, and his mother Jasbir Kaur got life imprisonment.

“On March 6, a tip-off was received that a convict in a murder case, who is currently on parole, along with his friend, is coming from Madhya Pradesh with illegal firearms and intends to commit a crime. A raid was conducted and Malkit and Bhupinder were arrested from near Beri Wala Bagh, Shalimar Bagh, Delhi, and a pistol with 16 cartridges was recovered from Malkit and a pistol with four cartridges was recovered from Bhupinder. A case under the Arms Act was registered,” the Special Cell said.

The duo was planning to execute the murders during the Holla Mohalla celebrations later this month. Malkit and Bhupinder sourced the arms from an arms supplier named Jyoti in Madhya Pradesh.

Malkit’s first brush with the law took place a decade ago after his father Baldev Singh was replaced as the granthi of Gurdwara Jaimal Singh, Lal Bagh, Azadpur, for his involvement in Patiala’s Banta Singh Bagichi firing incident where four Nihang Sikhs were killed.

Thereafter, Malkit, his mother and sewadars Sukhpal Singh and Ranjit Singh kidnapped the new granthi Lakhwinder Singh and murdered him. All four were sentenced to life imprisonment.

In 2017, the 27-year-old was involved in killing of four people belonging to Buddha Dal Balbir Singh in Muktsar over a property dispute. The same year, he was arrested for his involvement in a conspiracy to kill a sewadar, Pyara Singh, Balwangarh Sahib gurdwara, Fatehgarh Sahib.

“He has revealed that he wanted revenge from the head of one faction of Nihang Sikh Buddha Dal as he felt that the latter is responsible for keeping him and his mother in jail. There is also a dispute over the possession/heading of the jathebandi as Malkit wanted someone else to head the jathebandi,” the Special Cell said.

“He also wanted to eliminate one of his neighbours, who was witness in the murder case of the granthi, in which he and his mother were convicted,” it added.