Chandigarh: A day after the Punjab Police arrested Amritsar resident Sandeep Singh for the murder of Shiv Sena (Taksali) leader Sudhir Suri, the police are yet to establish a link between Singh and Khalistani terror outfits.
Police, however, suspect that Sandeep was highly radicalised and “could have been” influenced by the recent utterances of Khalistan ideologue Amritpal Singh.
Sandeep Singh alias ‘Sunny’ was arrested from the crime scene Friday and the licensed weapon he allegedly used to kill Suri recovered from him at the time of his arrest. The 32-year-old was remanded to seven days in police custody by a local court Saturday.
Meanwhile, Amritpal Singh, who was to address a ‘nagar kirtan’ (prayer ceremony) in Jalandhar Saturday was stopped by police at Singhapura village in Moga in a bid to avoid any untoward incident. Talking to reporters, Amritpal denied any role in Suri’s murder and said there was nothing unusual about a sticker of his rally being found on Sandeep’s car.
Though police officers remained tight-lipped about what happened during Sandeep’s interrogation, highly-placed sources in the force said that he might have been a “lone wolf” and the attack a “self-motivated” act. While ruling out any direct link between Sandeep and any terror outfit, police sources say they are yet to find any record of him in their files.
He is married and has two children, including a son who is barely a month old.
Police sources said Sandeep ran a garment shop in the area where Suri was killed, adding that he has a brother who also runs a garment shop in another part of Amritsar and his family owns five garment shops.
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Connecting the dots
Retracing his steps on the day of the incident, police said there was no change in Sandeep’s routine Friday morning. He opened his shop and went about business as usual, even dispatching a consignment for delivery.
It was only when Sandeep saw Suri and his supporters protesting in the market, near his shop, that he went back inside, retrieved his licensed weapon and shot Suri.
Police sources said investigators suspect that there could be a possibility of Sandeep being influenced by Amritpal Singh, the 29-year-old who was appointed the head of a faction of ‘Waris Punjab de’ — an outfit founded by actor-turned-Khalistan ideologue late Deep Sidhu — earlier this year.
An Instagram account, which police believe belongs to Sandeep, had at least one video of him meeting Amritpal posted last week, said sources. That same account was used to post clips of speeches made by Deep Sidhu and Amritpal.
Over the last one month, Amritpal Singh has been travelling to villages across Punjab, taking part in gatherings and making objectionable speeches, besides openly espousing the cause of Khalistan.
Meanwhile, Suri’s family refused to cremate his body Saturday, demanding that he be declared a ‘martyr’. Talking to reporters outside their home, his kin demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or any other central agency into the killing.
In addition to Amritpal’s arrest, they also sought security for the family and action against police officers who were unable to save Suri.
His son told reporters that Suri received ‘threatening calls’ from someone in the UK the day before his murder and that other members of the family continue to receive such calls.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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