Jaideep Rathi murder: Another accused held after Panipat encounter
6 accused have been arrested so far
The Panipat police arrested an accused after a brief encounter on IOCL Refinery Road here on Sunday night.
The accused was allegedly involved in murdering Jaideep Rathi, the brother of Panipat INLD district president Kuldeep Rathi.
Another accused in the case was arrested from Yamunanagar. Six accused have been arrested so far.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the accused had shot Jaideep dead on December 27 near Dera Bassi in Punjab, burnt the body in a deserted area and dumped the remains in a canal.
The accused, identified as Gurdarshan Singh of Ambala, took a bullet in the leg. The police admitted him to the civil hospital.
One of his associates, Jaljeet Singh of Panipat, to whom Gurdarshan came to meet, fled the site, taking advantage of the fog and darkness.
Meanwhile, the Panipat police arrested another accused, Jaswant Singh of Chaharwala village in Yamunanagar district from near his village.
During the investigation, the accused revealed that he along with his associate Gurdarshan of Ambala had murdered Jaideep.
The accused said Gurdarshan would come to meet Jaljeet in the night. Following this, police laid a trap near the canal. As the police reached there, Gurdarshan opened fire at the police team. The police retaliated and injured him. Jaljeet managed to flee. The police seized a pistol from Gurdarshan.
Jaideep Rathi had left home on the morning of December 27 for his farmhouse but did not return. His family lodged a missing complaint at the Sector 13/17 police station, suspecting that he had been kidnapped.
During the search, police found Jaideep’s car abandoned under suspicious circumstances near a toll plaza in Dera Bassi, on December 28.
During the investigation, police arrested four accused — Preetam, Ravinder Rathi, Sunil Sharma and Harender Rathi — on Friday in connection with the alleged kidnapping. The accused were interrogated after being taken on one-day police remand.
SP Bhupender Singh said that the accused will be produced in the court and police will interrogate them.
