Close shave for Jagraon village shopkeeper as bike-borne miscreants open fire

A shopkeeper, Jatinder Singh, in Rumi village near Jagraon, Ludhiana, had a miraculous escape on Saturday evening as two motorcycle-borne assailants opened fire at him.

The Ludhiana rural police during its probe found the role of victim’s brother-in-law, staying in the USA, in the incident.

The Sadar Jagraon police registered an attempt-to-murder case against three persons, including the victim’s brother-in-law. The latter has been identified as Rupinder Singh of Tarewala, Moga, currently based in the United States. The other two suspects are yet to be identified by the police.

It was the second attack on the shop owner, Jatinder Singh of Chajjawal, within the past five months. On January 30, unidentified assailants had fired multiple gunshots at the shutter of his hardware shop in Rumi village while he was away at Hazur Sahib. Around a month after the January incident, the police arrested a suspect, Robin Kumar of Sultanpur Lodhi. They recovered two pistols, a magazine, 10 cartridges, two mobile phones and a car from him.

Police sources said Rupinder had allegedly orchestrated a murder bid on Jatinder in 2019, leading to a case being registered against five individuals, including him. They added that he was also suspected of arranging the firing at his brother-in-law’s shop in January, where 11 rounds were fired at the shutter.

According to Jatinder, his sister had married Rupinder in 2018 but the couple soon divorced. He said Rupinder suspects him of orchestrating the divorce and had been attempting to kill him through repeated attacks.

The complainant told the police that on Saturday evening he was returning home in his Toyota Fortuner car. When he turned towards Chhajjawal from the T-point of Rumi village, two masked persons on a motorcycle without a registration number plate shot at him. He recounted that the assailants opened fire, with a bullet piercing the driver’s side windowpane of his vehicle and exiting through the rear windowpane before the attackers fled towards Jagraon.

The police said in connection with Saturday’s firing incident, the police were investigating whether the persons involved in January committed the latest incident.