Four in seven days of New Year: Punjab Police struggles to check brazen shootings

Incidentally, at least three such shootings have been followed by “encounter” killings by police – of alleged “accomplices”.

The four murders between December 31 and January 7 in shootings include the wedding killing of AAP sarpanch Jarmal Singh on Sunday, the gunning down of former kabaddi player Gagandeep Singh in Mohali on Monday, of a Congress worker at Bhinder Kalan in Moga Saturday, and of a woman estranged from her husband settled in Canada by assailants who barged into her home in Kapurthala.

Apart from these four killings in which the shooters are still absconding, at least two major cases from 2025 remain unsolved. The first involved the shooting down of an Abohar businessman, Sanjay Verma, in July 2025, by three men. “We have information that the killers have escaped to Nepal,” a senior police officer who did not want to be named said.

A prominent textile businessman, the 54-year-old Verma was popularly referred to as Punjab’s ‘Kurta-Pajama King’. Three masked assailants on a motorcycle approached him as he stepped out of his car outside his Abohar showroom on July 7 morning, and shot him from point-blank range before fleeing.

Gangster Aarzoo Bishnoi, known to be an associate of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, claimed responsibility for the killing, linking it to a refused “demand”. Police said their investigations pointed to gangster involvement and extortion rackets targeting businessmen.

Two alleged accomplices of the accused, Jaspreet Singh and Ram Rattan, were arrested the next day and killed in an “encounter”, allegedly during “weapon recovery”. Seven other accomplices were also arrested, but the three main shooters – identified as Shakti, Rajinder alias Billa and Jaskaran alias Katta – remain at large.

Police are yet to make a headway as well in the killing of kabaddi promoter Kunwar Digvijay Singh alias Rana Balachauria, 30, who was murdered during a tournament in the Chandigarh suburb of Mohali on December 15.

Two men approached Balachauria under the pretext of taking a selfie, then fired multiple shots at point-blank range (in the head and face), sending the stadium into panic.

Hours later, associates of the Bambiha-Dony Bal gang (including gangster Dony Bal) claimed responsibility on social media, identifying “Makhan Amritsar” and “Defaulter Karan” as the shooters, and calling it a revenge for singer Sidhu Moosewala’s murder in May 2022.

Police said Makhan was a reference to Aditya Kapoor and Karan to Karan Pathak. Both remain absconding.

However, an accused in the case, Harpinder Singh alias Middi, was killed in an “encounter” in Lalru near Mohali on December 17. In a statement, police said a team laid a trap, and that Harpinder was injured in an exchange of fire and succumbed to his injuries.

Police also arrested alleged mastermind Aishdeep Singh (linked to the Dony Bal gang) from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, reportedly as he was attempting to flee abroad.

In the case of Tuesday’s “encounter”, police said that Harnur, alias Noor, who was killed, was a “conspirator” in the sarpanch killing as well as involved in “plotting the murder” of Congress block president Harman Sekhon in Tarn Taran. DIG (Border Range) Snehdeep Sharma said Harnur was a close associate of Dasuwal and another foreign-based gangster, Afridi.

The official figures

While DGP Yadav did not respond to calls or messages on the recent killings, and the “encounters” that have followed, in the last week of 2025, he had shared data with media to counter the Opposition’s claims of a surge in crime.

As per the data, 2025 saw a substantial fall in major crime incidents in comparison to the previous year – murders by 8.7% (745 to 680), kidnappings and abductions by 10.6% (1,770 to 1,583), snatching by 19.6% and thefts by 34.3%.

Figures shared by Yadav also showed that the state Anti-Gangster Task Force along with field units had “busted” 416 gangster / criminal modules, arrested 992 of their members, and recovered 620 weapons and 252 vehicles from their possession.

While the names of alleged gangsters Dony Bal and Prabh Dasuwal have emerged in the latest killings, there have been many whose names have come up in the brazen shootings – including gangs led by Lawrence Bishnoi, Goldy Brar, Davinder Bambiha-Lucky Patial, Harwinder Rinda-Lakhwinder Landa, Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, and Harry Chatha.

Bal and Dasuwal are known to be based in Europe – primarily Portugal, as per a senior police officer – since fleeing India some years back.

Opposition heat

Partap Singh Bajwa, Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Vidhan Sabha, said the killings could not be ignored. “The AAP government must accept moral and constitutional responsibility. There have been four brutal murders in just the past week, reflecting not ordinary crime but an atmosphere of organised crime.”

Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal also said that the incidents “reflect escalating gangster audacity”. “Targeted killings in public places have become routine.”

AAP spokesperson Baltej Pannu cited the police action that “neutralised” an accused in the sarpanch murder. “Punjab is in safe hands,” he posted on X.