New Delhi, Sep 7 (PTI) The firing incident outside a Nalagarh court in Himachal Pradesh last month was part of a conspiracy to rescue the killer of Youth Akali Dal leader Vicky Middukhera, Delhi Police said on Wednesday.
Delhi Police’s Special Cell has arrested four assailants, along with two others, from different parts of Punjab and Haryana between September 2 and 5 in connection with the case, officials said.
The four accused — Vakil (24), Vikram Singh (23), Pargat Singh (28) and Gurjant Singh (24) — were involved in the firing incident at Nalagarh court on August 29, they said.
Fifth accused Ajay (22) was involved in supplying logistics while sixth accused Gagandeep Sharma (30) was the communication handler and local mastermind, police said.
According to police, the incident of firing took place outside the ACJM’s court when Ajay, accused of killing Youth Akali Dal leader Middukhera, was being taken back after his court appearance under the police escorts. The local police had suspected it to be an incident attempted to kill accused Ajay.
The Special Cell of Delhi Police had launched a probe into the firing incident since accused Ajay was arrested by it in March this year in connection with Middukhera’s killing.
According to a senior police officer, since Ajay was a ‘desperate shooter’ of the Bambiha–Lucky Patial–Kaushal Chaudhary gang, there was an apprehension that the rival Lawrence Bishnoi–Jaggu Bhagwanpuria– Kala Jathedi alliance may have ‘orchestrated’ the assault to avenge the killing of Middukhera.
Hargobinder Singh Dhaliwal, Special Commissioner of Police (Special Cell), said that within three days of the firing incident, the identities of all the four men involved in the incident were established and subsequently apprehended after the team conducted raids in Delhi and other locations in Haryana and Punjab. Later, the other two accused were also nabbed, he said.
“Accused Vakil and Vikram, both natives of Haryana, are found to be underlings of jailed gangster Bhuppi Rana, a close associate of Kaushal Chaudhary and Lucky Patial. Punjab-based accused Pargat and Gurjant are connected to Patial through Jas, a native of village Behbal Kalan in Faridkot.
“Ajay was being handled by arrested accused Gagandeep and one more Punjab-based handler whose identity is being confirmed,” Dhaliwal said.
Investigations revealed that Gagandeep was the local communication and logistics handler who had routed weapons, finance etc. to the two different groups of assailants, he said.
“Gagandeep is a close associate and co-accused of dreaded Dilpreet Singh Dahan alias Baba, the jailed associate of absconding terrorist Harvinder Singh Sandhu alias Rinda who is presently handling all operations of Babbar Khalsa International from Pakistan at the behest of ISI,” the senior police officer said.
“Our investigation revealed that though the plan was to get Ajay freed from the custody of Himachal Pradesh Police, the same could not get executed since the last minute confirmatory message about the impending arrival of ‘saviours’ could not get relayed to Ajay timely. “As a result, when he was approached by the arrested accused on the day, being unsure of their correct intent, Ajay chose not to accompany them but, rather, being mindful of a probable attempt by Lawrence Bishnoi cartel at eliminating him, chose to run inside the court to save his life,” Dhaliwal said.
Investigations have revealed that Lucky Patial has been communicating from Europe with these criminals, who are being handled by Gagandeep, he added.
Police said the chain of messengers through which the message to Ajay was to be conveyed has been identified and operations are underway to bring them to join investigation. A motorcycle, four firearms, five magazines and 20 live cartridges, one grenade, a car, and some cell phones are among the recoveries made so far, they said. PTI AMP IJT KVK KVK
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