Relative held for killing NRI last week

Jalandhar IG Sanjiv Kalra, along with Ludhiana Rural SSP Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, said while addressing the media: 8220;The kidnappers had demanded Rs 10 crore as ransom for the release of the two.8221;

On September 23, Basant8217;s body was recovered from a canal near Kalian Wali village in Moga. Bhullar along with his team collected important clues from the spot, Dharamkot and Moga, leading to the arrests of the culprits. Kalra said: 8220;Baljinder Singh alias Buby, Pardeep Singh alias Deepa, Gurmeet Singh alias Jeeti and Hansdeep alias Beepa, all resident of Moga have been arrested and personal belongings of the deceased, including two gold rings, one mobile, one wrist watch, have been recovered from them.8221;

Bhullar added that preliminary interrogations revealed that Baljinder, who too was reported to have been kidnapped along with Basant, was the mastermind of the kidnapping. He is said to be the nephew of the deceased and was working as dancer in Moga. Eyes on the property of the deceased, Baljinder decided to kidnap Basant, the police said.

8220;On September 19, Baljinder called up his accomplices from Ludhiana where he was staying with the deceased and asked them to meet him at Pehalwan Dhaba. The deceased was reportedly in an inebriated condition and the accused was driving him in his Scorpio towards Malak village, while his accomplices were following them. On the way, Baljinder stopped the vehicle on the pretext of answering a nature8217;s call. In the meantime, the accused, armed with sharp weapons, attacked the deceased and later on threw him in the canal near Kalian Wali village. After that, they went to Dharamshala and stayed there till things cooled down. After returning, they abandoned the Scorpio near a bus stand in Amritsar and stayed at Bathinda, Moga and other places.8221;

The police said Baljinder had a showdown with Basant sometime before the incident over a money deal, after which he decided to kill him.