3 gangsters gun down man in front of wife, son at Ropar

ROPAR: In yet another incident of gang violence in Punjab, three goons barged into the house of a farmer at Bahman Majra village in Ropar district and shot him in front of his wife and son on Friday early morning.
The trio — Dilpreet Dhahan, Jassi Kahlwan and Harjinder alias Akaash — knocked at Pehalwan Des Raj Singh’s door at 3 am and gunned down the 48-year-old farmer inside the house.The trio had been eluding arrest for long in several other cases.
Dilpreet had given police the slip in July last year from a roadside dhaba near Asron village in Nawanshahr district when he was being taken to Hoshiarpur jail after a court appearance. The other two are also notorious criminals and involved in several cases of murder, attempt to murder and drug peddling.
Police said there had been an altercation between Des Raj and the gang at Anandpur Sahib court complex a year ago during which the trio had threatened to eliminate him.
The victim’s son Jaswinder, 22, said when his father opened the door one of the goons pointed a gun and fired from a close range. “My father fell on the ground and the trio fled. I could recognise them as I had seen them during the altercation with my father at the Anandpur Sahib court,” he said. According to sources, the gangsters arrived in a Hyundai i20 car.
“It was a quarrel over some small issue and the family had even forgotten about the incident,” he said. Police registered a case against the trio on the statements of Jaswinder.
Ropar senior superintendent of police (SSP) Nilambari Vijay Jagdev said the district police had already formed a team to nab the gang. She said the police had stumbled upon vital clues and sent out teams to track down the trio.
Meanwhile, residents of Bahman Majra held a protest against the killing and blocked the roads.
Punjab had witnessed several gang wars in the recent past. Police have not so far cracked the killings of Sirsa Dera sect followers and Hindu sect leaders this year.