Dera double murder: Killer looked at CCTV camera, fired in air

Satpal Sharma (65) and his son Ramesh (35) were shot dead inside the canteen of Naam Charcha Ghar of Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda in village Jaghera of sub-division Payal of Ludhiana. A large number of Dera followers briefly blocked the Ludhiana-Malerkotla highway in the evening demanding immediate arrest of the assailants.
They were, however, pacified by senior Punjab Police officers and convinced to clear the highway. Although the postmortem was conducted Sunday morning, the last rites were yet to be performed.

Meanwhile, Punjab Police are groping in dark over the motive behind the gruesome double murder. While it earlier suspected personal enmity, police on Sunday said that it was too early to conclude anything. Asked if the crime was fallout of enmity between some Sikh community members and Dera followers, SSP (Khanna) Satinder Singh, “It is a sensitive issue and we are yet to reach any conclusion on motive behind these murders. No clear reason has come out yet. The priority is to maintain law and order and get the cremation done peacefully. Several teams have been formed to trace the bike and CCTV footage has been sent for forensic examination.”

In the CCTV footage, two men, with their faces covered, are seeing stopping a Splendor motorbike on the Ludhiana-Malerkotla Highway, right opposite the Dera congregation center. With pistols in hand, both are then seen barging into the canteen, which has its entrance on the highway.

In just eight seconds, they pumped bullets into the victims from point blank range. The entire crime from their entry to exit in the canteen was completed in 22 seconds with the attackers speeding away then. In the CCTV footage, as both victims fall down, one of the killers again fires a bullet at Satpal Sharma. The other attacker, meanwhile, opens fire in the air as sign of victory, while deliberately staring at the camera.

While this attacker has been clearly captured in the camera, he is not identifiable due to his face being covered. A police source said, “It is a daring act to park motorbike on the highway and execute the entire crime within 22 seconds. We are also scanning CCTV cameras on entire highway to see if any of these men came previously for a recce. The bike’s number is yet to be traced, but the make is clear. The swiftness with which crime has been executed proves that a proper recce was done.”

“It was a well-planned murder because the killers knew exactly which day the father and the son would be there to do sewa at the Dera canteen. They also knew when both would be in the canteen. No one even heard the gunshots and it was hours later that their bullet-riddled bodies were spotted in the canteen,” added the source.

SSP Satinder Singh added: “Six rounds were fired by the killers from .32 bore pistols…The postmortem of the bodies was conducted Sunday morning at Civil Hospital, Ludhiana. Satpal suffered three bullet injuries, while Ramesh had two. One bullet each pierced through their brains.”