AAP leader shot dead outside Jalandhar gurdwara

Aam Aadmi Party leader Satwinderpal Singh (41), alias Lucky Oberoi, was shot dead on Thursday morning outside a gurdwara in Jalandhar’s Model Town by two assailants riding an Activa, the killing providing the Opposition fresh ammunition to target the Bhagwant Mann government over the law and order situation in Punjab.

Oberoi was attacked around 7.30 am as soon as he stepped out of Gurdwara Singh Sabha and sat inside his Thar. He was a regular visitor to the shrine and the attackers were likely familiar with his daily routine, the police said.

Murdered over college politics?

Hours after Lucky Oberoi’s murder, several Facebook posts surfaced pointing to a dispute over the appointment of a student wing president at Lyallpur Khalsa College in Jalandhar. Oberoi reportedly managed to get his aide appointed to the post. US-based gangster Joga Pholriwal claimed he was killed over the college presidentship.

The murder was captured on CCTV cameras. The footage shows one of the assailants walking up to Oberoi’s vehicle and firing multiple shots at close range in his chest and head. Both attackers were wearing black hoodies and had their faces covered with shawls. They were seen speaking on a phone as they fled the scene on the Activa.

A wedding ceremony was underway inside the gurdwara when the shootout took place. “Initially, we thought wedding guests were bursting firecrackers. A few minutes later, we were told a visitor to the gurdwara had been shot dead,” said a sewadar.

Oberoi was rushed to a private hospital where doctors declared him “brought dead”. A financier by profession, his wife Simarjot Kaur had unsuccessfully contested the councillor's election from the area on the AAP ticket in December 2024. He was a close aide of AAP Jalandhar Cantt halqa incharge Rajwinder Kaur Thiara. His paternal uncle Kuldeep Oberoi served as a councillor from the Akali Dal for over four terms.

Hours after the murder, several Facebook posts surfaced pointing to a dispute over the appointment of a student wing president at Lyallpur Khalsa College in Jalandhar. Oberoi had reportedly managed to get his aide appointed to the post, following which he began receiving threats. He had recently obtained a gun licence.

By the afternoon, US-based gangster Joga Pholriwal, who is reportedly associated with the Sonu Khatri gang, posted a video on Facebook claiming responsibility for the killing. “He (Oberoi) was involved in illegal activities and had taken refuge under AAP leadership. He has been killed over the Khalsa College presidentship issue. He was a police informer and had tried to harm our brothers," Pholriwal wrote, tagging Sonu Khatri and others.

In the evening, Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav visited the spot and held a meeting with officers of the Jalandhar Police Commissionerate to review the investigation. He said Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was “closely monitoring the case and was being updated on each development”. “We are tracking the movement of the suspects through CCTV footage. Police teams have also collected mobile tower dumps to take the investigation forward through technical analysis,” said the DGP, who was accompanied by Commissioner of Police Dhanpreet Kaur.

On Pholriwal’s social media claim, Yadav said, “We are tracking all such posts and getting IP addresses verified. Personal vendetta cannot be ruled out.”

Responding to reports that one of the shooters belonged to Central Town, he said, “Identification is underway.” On the weapon used in the crime, the DGP said there had been a 400 per cent surge in arms smuggling from Pakistan via drones and other means following Operation Sindoor. “Glock pistols and other sophisticated weapons are being sent into India,” he said. Asked whether the murder could be linked to student politics, the DGP said “this angle needed to be examined”.

Meanwhile, Punjab Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa targeted the AAP government alleging “complete collapse of law and order in the state”. “The shocking daylight murder exposes the grim reality: if even ruling AAP leaders aren't safe, what hope remains for ordinary citizens? Punjab is gripped by fear, gang violence and administrative paralysis," Bajwa wrote on X.

SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, in a post on X, alleged, "Punjab is bleeding under Aam Aadmi Party's 'zero fear' government. Nearly 25 murders took place in January 2026 alone and nine of them in the first week of the year.”

Congress state chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said, "This is what we have been warning time and again. AAP has pushed Punjab into ‘jungle raj’," he said.

BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh said the killing was a “chilling reminder that Punjab was slipping into complete lawlessness”.