One held in man-mother murder case

Police have arrested one of the three accused charged with the murder of an octogenarian woman and her son. The bodies were recovered from the Bathinda branch of the Sirhind canal earlier this month, two weeks ago.

SSP Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said said that Surjit Singh, a resident of Ram Nagar, has been arrested in connection with the case. Two accomplices Gurmit Singh, a resident of Naruana road and Jagjit Singh from Paras Ram Nagar, are absconding.

The sketches of the three had been released recently. The victim man's wrist watch and wallet has been recovered.

The SSP added that Surjit had confessed to murdering the victims with house robbery as the motive.

"The family was rich and owned a building in the city. The victim had retired from the food and civil supply department," he said. The man had remained childless from two marriages.

The three accused had planned the robbery and to execute it had drinks with the victim, Rupinderjit Singh (62) on February 8 night. After ensuring that the victim was drunk, the trio then strangulated Singh and his mother Nirpender Kaur (85) and whisked away all the jewellery from the house.

They then loaded the bodies in the family' car and threw the bodies in the canal. The car was dumped near Tarn Taran. The woman's body was recovered from the canal on February 9, while the son's body was fished out on February 16.