Raipur: The Chhattisgarh Police and Punjab Police, in a joint operation on Sunday, arrested two shooters involved in the murder of an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) sarpanch. The accused, identified as Sukhraj and Karmveer, were arrested from Rishabh Apartment in the Rajendra Nagar area of Raipur, where they were hiding at a relative’s house. The duo is accused of killing Jarmal Singh, the sarpanch of Valtoha village in Tarn Taran district. Singh was attending a wedding at the Marigold Resort in Amritsar on 4 January when the shooters approached him and shot him in the head at close range. He was rushed to a hospital, but succumbed to his injuries during treatment.
The Punjab Police tracked the suspects using technical inputs and location tracing, which led them to Raipur. After their arrest, the shooters were produced before a Raipur court, after which the Punjab Police team left for Amritsar with the accused on transit remand. The Raipur Police are questioning the relatives who provided shelter to the shooters, while investigations into the wider conspiracy and gang network are underway.
CCTV footage from the resort shows the two shooters approaching the victim with their faces uncovered. The video shows one of the men pulling out a pistol and firing at Singh while he was seated at a table. After the incident, gangsters Doni Bal and Prabh Dasuwal claimed responsibility through a social media post, alleging the killing was due to personal enmity and Singh’s alleged role in police raids against gang members, and they also claimed they had attempted to kill Singh twice before.
Jarmal Singh was a prominent local leader who had earlier won the sarpanch elections twice with the support of the Shiromani Akali Dal before joining the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and was the sitting sarpanch at the time of his death. The police are now verifying the authenticity of the social media claims and searching for other associates linked to the crime.
