Chandigarh: A suspected shooter involved in the murder of a Dera Sacha Sauda follower was arrested following a brief encounter with Punjab Police personnel, officials said on Sunday. The main shooter, identified as Ramjan Khan alias Raj Hooda, was injured in his leg in the shoot-out, said Promod Ban, head of the Anti-Gangster Task Force of the Punjab Police.
The operation was conducted in coordination with central agencies and Rajasthan Police, said Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav. In a major breakthrough AGTF arrested Ramjan Khan @ Raj Hooda, involved in murder of Pardeep at Kotkapura, Faridkot has been apprehended after a brief encounter with AGTF at Jaipur, Rajasthan, said Yadav in a tweet.
Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda follower Pardeep Singh, an accused in the 2015 Bargari sacrilege case, was shot dead by six assailants in his shop at Kotkapura in Faridkot on November 10. Five shooters had already been arrested in this case. Three of them including two minors were nabbed by the special cell of the Delhi police while two were arrested by the Punjab police. Hooda was the main shooter involved in the murder of the Dera Sacha Sauda follower, Pramod Ban said. The encounter took place in Jagatpura area in Jaipur. We will question him in detail once we bring him here, said Pramod Ban. Hooda received a bullet injury in his leg, said police.
Police said it had been on his trail for the past many days. The alleged shooter kept changing his hideouts, said Ban. Hooda moved from Chandigarh to Hisar and then came back to Chandigarh, and on Saturday, he reached Jaipur, said Ban. Despite having Punjab Police protection, Pardeep was killed by six assailants in his dairy shop in Kotkapura in Faridkot. His security man and another person had sustained bullet injuries in the incident.
Canada-based gangster Goldy Brar had claimed responsibility for the killing in a purported social media post. Brar is also the main accused in the murder case of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala, who was shot dead in May. Police on Saturday had said that from the interrogation and evidence collected so far, involvement of Brar has been established beyond doubt in the murder case. He was the key conspirator in this case, police had said.
