Shots fired outside Cong leader’s house at Jawaddi

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 15

Former Congress councillor Satwinder Singh of Punjab Mata Nagar, Jawaddi Kalan, had a miraculous escape as armed men fired several shots outside his house on Monday night.

Old enmity was said to be the cause of attack. The victim alleged that the assailants wanted to intimidate him as a court case pending against them was at the last stage. They wanted him to back out of the case, said Satwinder.

The suspects have been identified as Amandeep Singh, alias Asa, of Jawaddi Kalan; Jaskaran Singh Jassa, Bandu Mann Singh, all residents of Jawaddi Kalan, Arman Singh of Sarabha Nagar, Bikramvir Singh of BRS Nagar and five unknown assailants.

Satwinder said around 11 pm on Monday, he heard sounds of gunshots outside his house and came out to see what had happened. “I came out and tried to identify the assailants. I could recognise Asa and four of his aids. After seeing me, they started firing at me. I saved myself by rushing back into my house. Meanwhile, my nephew came there and the assailants also started firing at him. He also had a miraculous escape,” he added.

The victim said most bullets hit the walls, the main gate and an iron shed. When he raised the alarm and the local people started gathering there, Asa, along with his aides, fled the scene in three vehicles, namely Scorpio (PB10 0990), Bolero (PB29 4048) and Innova Crysta (PB R 0095).

A case of attempt to murder under Section 307, IPC, and under the Arms Act has been registered against the assailants.

Dugri SHO Gurbachan Singh said the assailants had old enmity with Satwinder. Raids are being conducted at the hideouts of the assailants and they will be nabbed soon, he added.

THE RIVALRY 

The victim, Satwinder said the assailants had attacked him and his relatives in 2009 and 2010 at Jawaddi village. One of his relatives had suffered a bullet injury in the attack then. He alleged Asa had been harbouring a decade-old rivalry with him. “I never initiated any attack rather he attacked me and my family several times in the past. He is facing more than a dozen cases of heinous crime,” he asserted. Satwinder said the police had recovered the footage of a CCTV camera that showed three vehicles used by the assailants. The police also recovered more than a dozen bullet cases from the spot, he said.