Slain Cong councillor’s son held for murder bid

Amritsar, June 24

The CIA staff have nabbed slain Congress councillor Gurdeep Pehalwan’s son Abhiraj Singh, alias Abhi Pehalwan, on the charges of attempt to murder. Abhi shot a man in Lohgarh on June 3 and had been evading arrest since then.

The police have recovered a .32 bore country-made pistol used in the crime from his possession and named his five accomplices Mohan Singh of Katra Sher Singh, Karan, Sahil and Kaku of Lohgarh, besides an unknown suspect in the case.

Abhi was produced before the court yesterday, which sent him to three-day police custody. Assistant Commissioner of Police Gurinderpal Singh Nagra said a monetary dispute was the reason behind Lohgarh incident.

Gurpreet Singh, alias Gopi, a resident of Bhikhiwind in Tarn Taran, was shot at by Abhi and his accomplices on June 3. After the incident, the accused fled to Jammu and Kashmir and was arrested from the city. The police had booked Abhi’s 10 accomplices for attempt to murder and under the Arms Act.

Surjit Singh, alias Raju, a resident of Lohgarh and a relative of the victim, told the police that he had dairy farm and his nephew Danish Gill stayed with him. He said around 11.30 pm on June 2, Abhi along with accomplices came and started thrashing Gill. He said Gurpreet Singh saved Gill from the accused. Later, the accused left for a few minutes and on returning, they shot Gurpreet, said Raju.

Earlier, Abhi was booked for allegedly shooting and threatening a scrap dealer who had accused him of extortion. His father was shot by the aides of gangster, Jaggu Bhagwanpuria in 2018.