3 cases of murder of Right-wing Hindu leaders have been reported from the state so far; killers are still at large and suspects include militants, Pakistan.
New Delhi: The investigations into a series of murders of Hindu Right-wing leaders in Punjab will be taken over by the National Investigation Agency.
According to sources, the state government sent a recommendation to the home ministry, which has been approved and the cases will soon be transferred to NIA.
An NIA official told ThePrint that the agency suspects the involvement of a militant organisation in the killings and possibly a Pakistan connection as well.
To date, three cases of Hindu leaders being shot using the same modus operandi have been reported from Punjab. The killers are still at large. Two of these cases were transferred to the CBI, but the agency has not made any headway either.
In one case, RSS leader Ravinder Gosai was shot dead by two motorcycle-borne assailants in Ludhiana on 17 October. He was the Sangh Pracharak at the RSS’ Mohan Shakha in Ludhiana.
Similarly, senior RSS leader Jagdish Gagneja was shot by unidentified motorcycle-borne youths in a market in Jalandhar on 6 August 2016. In the third case, four assailants shot dead Vipina Sharma, a leader of the Hindu Sangarash Sena, in Amritsar on 30 October 2016.
“The assailants operate on bikes and target Right-wing leaders. We suspect that the killers are part of a militant group that has a Pakistan connection. We also suspect the role of Sikh militant groups. Some Left-wing extremist groups could also be behind the killings,” an investigator told ThePrint.
“The investigators have not been able to zero in on any specific terrorist group or organisation that may be behind the killings. We suspect that the organisation has links in Pakistan and have also been receiving funds to carry out these murders,” the investigator said.
“It appears that it is the same organisation behind these killings because in all of these cases, assailants come on bikes and they are masked. Also, they use the same kind of weapon. We will start the investigation once formal orders are sent to us,” he added.