Four land in police net for assault on Tharike patwari

Two days after a patwari was assaulted in Tharike village here, police on Thursday claimed to have solved the case with the arrest of four men, including a patwari of Mullanpur Dakha.

Police said the accused patwari, Jaspreet Singh, 37, of Dugri, had hired contract killers for assaulting the victim, Deepak Singla, who is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Tharike.

The other arrested accused are Happy Singh, 25, Jaswinder Singh alias Jassi, 30, of Mohalla Kalgidhar road, and Jagjit Singh alias Jagga, 31, of Preet Nagar of Chimni Road in Shimlapuri, while Bunty of Mohalla Kalgidhar Road, Navneet Singh of Shimlapuri and his brother Pavneet Singh of Dugri are still on the run.

The police have also recovered sharp-edged weapons, six motorcycles and a scooter used in the crime.

Addressing the media, police commissioner Rakesh Agarwal said, “Jaspreet was deputed at Tharike for a long time, and had got involved in property business with Navneet. However, Jaspreet was transferred to Mullanpur Dakha and Singla, earlier deputed at Bhundri in Sidhwan Bet, replaced him.”

“Jaspreet wanted to retain his posting, so he hatched a conspiracy with Navneet and Pavneet, and hired contract killers for ₹30,000. On September 10, soon after Singla had joined, the accused assaulted him with sharp edged weapons after barging into his office, leaving him injured,” Agarwal said.

“It is yet to be found if they wanted to murder Singla or injure him,” he said.

Agarwal said police could have been misled at first as Singla told them that the assailants had warned him against harassing their sister, but he had no clue about it.

However, the police identified the accused through closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage, which led to their arrest and then Jaspreet’s.

Agarwal said Jaspreet is facing trial in a murder-attempt case registered at the Shimlapuri police station in 2018, while Jaswinder is the kingpin of a gang involved in assaulting people for money.

The Sadar police have registered a case under Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 332 (voluntarily
causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 333 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the accused. The four will be produced before the court on
Friday.