Abohar cops get jailed gangster’s custody

About two months after the murder of cloth merchant Sanjay Verma outside his commercial complex on July 7, the police arrested another suspect allegedly involved in the fatal shooting.

On July 8, two suspects — Jaspreet Singh and Ram Rattan, both from Patiala — were killed in an exchange of gunfire. They had assisted three shooters in escaping after the murder using a car parked on the Sitto Gunno Road.

The police have now brought another gangster connected to the case from Patiala jail and presented him in court, where he was remanded in police custody for four days.

City-1 police station in-charge Paramjeet Kumar said Vishnu Khandela, a resident of Jodhpur, Rajasthan, was brought to Abohar on a production warrant. “Khandela has links to Aarjoo Bishnoi, who claimed responsibility for Verma’s murder, and was in contact with Bishnoi at the time. Khandela had provided money to Priyanjal Sharma and Anshuman Tiwari, both from Madhya Pradesh, who were arrested and are now in Faridkot jail. They are accused of delivering Rs 1.3 lakh to the shooters,” he said.

Earlier, Inderpal Bishnoi, Sandeep Khichad and Pawan Khichad, all residents of Kachur Aguni village in Bikaner district, were arrested from Sriganganagar. The police said they had provided shelter to the shooters and had also received Rs 1.40 lakh transferred from abroad.

The police had also arrested Parveen Lonkar, who was already imprisoned in Maharashtra in connection with the murder of NCP leader Baba Siddique.