DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

Six persons have been arrested from Maharashtra for allegedly shooting dead a woman and her two kin in Ferozepur in Punjab a few days ago, a top police official said here on Saturday. Punjab's Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said the Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) of the state police, in a joint operation with the central agencies and the Maharashtra Police, solved the September 3 case with the arrest of six shooters from Aurangabad.

Those arrested have been identified as Gurpreet Singh of Chohla Sahib in Tarn Taran, Prince of Kunde village in Ferozepur, and Ravinder Singh, Sukhchain Singh, Akshay and Rajbeer Singh, all residents of Basti Bagh Wali in Ferozepur.

Preliminary investigation has revealed that all the arrested shooters were close associates of Ashish Chopra, a fugitive hiding abroad on a fake passport, the Punjab police chief said. All the accused have a criminal history, with cases pertaining to murder, attempt to murder, robbery, drugs, and under the Arms Act registered against them, police said, adding Gurpreet Singh had been declared a proclaimed offender in two cases.

DGP Yadav said police had launched a special operation covering Punjab, Chandigarh, Delhi and Maharashtra, and arrested the accused from Hruday Samrat Balasaheb Thakre Express Highway.

The probe revealed that the incident was the fallout of inter-gang rivalry between two groups, he added.

The shooting took place near a gurdwara in Ferozepur on September 3 when the woman, Jaspreet Kaur (26), accompanied by her brother and other relatives, were leaving in a car to invite some people for her wedding next month, police said.

As soon as they sat in the car, the six accused riding two motorcycles, reached there and allegedly opened indiscriminate fire at the vehicle.

Four of the accused were carrying weapons and several rounds were fired, killing Jaspreet and seriously injuring the rest, the police said.

Later, Jaspreet's relatives Dildeep Singh and Akashdeep Singh (23) succumbed to injuries, while her brother Anmolpreet Singh (24) was referred to a hospital in Ludhiana, they said. Police sources said Dildeep had a criminal record and he had been released on parole recently in a case.
(editor@dailyworld.in)