Balwinder murdered over personal enmity, say police

PK Jaiswar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 14

The interrogation of gangsters Gurjit Singh Bhaa and Sukhdeep Singh Bura has strengthened the police theory that Shaurya Chakra awardee Balwinder Singh Sandhu’s murder was an outcome of some personal enmity and was not a targeted killing, as being claimed.

According to the police, their primary target was “someone else” who did not belong to Tarn Taran and interrogation was on to identify him.

Bhaa and Bura, along with three Kashmiri youth, were brought on a production warrant from Delhi by the Tarn Taran police on December 7.

“Yeh personal hai, isko karna hai (This is personal and you have to do it),” were the words of Sukhmeet Singh, alias Sukh Bhikhariwal, to his accomplices Bhaa and Bura. Wanted in Balwinder murder case, the duo was arrested by the Delhi Police following a brief exchange of fire in the Shakarpur area on December 7. Three Kashmiri youths and alleged operatives of the Hizbul Mujahideen were also nabbed with them.

A senior police official said the interrogation carried out so far revealed that Balwinder was not their primary target. However, they killed him at the instance of Bhikhariwal.

“The exact reason for the murder would be confirmed only after Bhikhariwal was brought on a production warrant,” he said.

He was recently deported from Dubai and arrested by the Delhi Police. The Tarn Taran police have initiated the process for his production warrant also.

“The police may also add sections of the Unlawful Activity Prevention Act (UAPA) in the murder case due to the involvement of Bhikhariwal and his alleged links with terrorists,” he added.

Investigations revealed that the three HM operatives of Kashmir were linked with gangsters for smuggling narcotics. The three youths were to deliver around 1 kg of heroin to the gangsters. Nevertheless, the police official added that they were still digging the Khalistani angle in the case as the family members had claimed.