Main accused conspired the murder with his friends after suspecting his wife of having an extra-marital relationship with the sarpanch, say police
Hot on their trail since the broad daylight murder of a sarpanch in Moga on March 6, police have arrested four accused from Leh.
The accused, all friends, have been identified as Manpreet Singh, Harvinder Singh Hinda, Jashanpreet Singh Jassa and Yogesh Sharma. They were flown in from Leh to Chandigarh on Saturday and will be produced before a Moga court on Sunday, police said.
On March 6, the victim, Harpinder Singh, also known as Happy, the sarpanch of Patto Hira Singh village, was outside his gym in Moga’s Baghapurana town around 11 am when SUV-borne assailants fired about 15 rounds at him, police said.
According to investigators, accused Manpreet suspected his wife of having an extra-marital relationship with the sarpanch. Piqued by this, he conspired with his friends to eliminate him.
Baghapurana deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Dalbir Singh Sidhu said the Moga police had alerted their counterparts in Ladakh about the specific movement of the accused, following which the Ladakh state police apprehended them on Thursday.
A Ladakh court granted transit remand of the accused, after which the Moga police arrested and brought them back to the district on Saturday.
“Analysis of CCTV footage retrieved from and around the crime spot confirmed that Manpreet, Harvinder and Yogesh shot Harpinder multiple times with three weapons. Yogesh was driving the SUV. Further probe is underway,” said the DSP.
Investigators said the SUV used in the crime was rented by the accused. It was later found abandoned at Kota Mana village, after which they fled in Manpreet’s SUV.
“The crime investigation agency (CIA) identified the SUV in which the accused fled towards Ladakh after forging the registration number plate. Our teams were chasing the accused using technical inputs, resulting in the arrests,” said the DSP, adding that the teams had been constantly tracking the culprits since the crime took place last week.
He said the Ladakh police were alerted after the Moga police team was unable to reach Leh due to snowfall blocking the highway.
Contrary to the allegations, the probe has not found involvement of Manpreet’s brother Jobanpreet Singh and their father Jaswant Singh in the crime, the DSP added.
