Cops identify 3 accused,but no arrests yet

Sources said that Jalandhar Rural police have registered a case against eight to 10 people,all relatives and friends of main accused Bhinda at Lohian police station late Tuesday. The case has been registered under NDPS and Arms Act,said police sources.

However,senior authorities remained tight-lipped on whether a case has been registered. Earlier,Jalandhar and Kapurthala police teams had rounded up some relatives of the accused from Jalandhar.

Gurdev Singh (52) was shot dead while he was chasing a suspected drug peddler on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday opposite Haveli restaurant on National Highway-1.

Police said Parminder has a criminal background. Four cases — two in Jalandhar and one each in Kapurthala and Patiala districts — are registered against him. He was sentenced to jail for one-and-a-half years in a case and had come out on bail recently.

The assailants,police said,had used a 9mm carbine to fire at the ASI. They have recovered six shells of carbine from the spot where he was killed.

Kapurthala SSP Inderbir Singh,meanwhile,said raids are on to arrest the accused. He skirted questions on why the ASI was not issued a service revolver after it was snatched by some miscreants last year.

Later in the day,the ASI was cremated with full state honours at his native village.

Meanwhile,taking suo motu cognizance of the gunning down of the ASI,National Commission for Scheduled Castes on Tuesday directed SSP,DM of Kapurthala and Jalandhar division IG to submit a report in this regard by April 3.