Panic gripped Gurdaspur after Harvinder Soni, the general secretary of Punjab unit of Shiv Sena (Bal Thackeray), was seriously injured in a shooting incident in Gurdaspur on Sunday morning. His assailant has been arrested by the police. To protest against the assault on its leader, the Shiv Sena activists blocked traffic on the national highway at Basti Jodhewal Chowk in ludhiana.
Soni was shot at from a close range when he was playing volleyball in Fish Park in Gurdaspur located adjacent to Deputy Commissioner's residence. The bullet, fired from a .315 bore country made pistol, hit Soni in abdomen. Soni’s condition was stated to be out of danger after an operation at Fortis Hospital Amritsar.
Police have arrested a man identifying himself as Kashmir Singh, a resident of Galwadi village in Khanna Sadar police station in ludhiana district. He was reportedly “chased” and “overpowered” by the gunmen attached with Soni, and handed over to Gurdaspur police. The gunmen of Soni also fired few shots during the chase.
Kashmir Singh claimed to be a pathi (reciter of gurbani), a police official privy with his interrogation said . A gunman attached with Soni who claimed to have chased the assailant said that after being caught, he raised slogans of “Khalistan Zindabad”. “He was asking us too to raise slogans of Khalistan,” said the gunman.
“As the game of volleyball was on, someone said loudly Soni and a shot was fired. He fell on the ground and the attacker ran away,” said one of the Sena activists who accompanied Soni to hospital in Amritsar from Gurdaspur. After the incident, activists of Sena and other organisations met in Gurdaspur from adjoining areas.
Sources said that the assailant, during his preliminary interrogation, termed it as an “act of revenge” against Harvinder Soni for “removing turban” of a Sikh in Gurdaspur during a bandh in March 2012, and against the killing of Sikh youth Jaspal Singh the next day amid police firing.
The bandh call for March 28, 2012, was given to register protest against the proposed execution following a court order of militant Balwant Singh Rajoana, who is on a death row for his role in assassination of Punjab’s former Chief Minister Beant Singh. During the bandh on March 28, 2012, as many as four Sikh youths travelling on three motorcycles were allegedly beaten up by Soni and his supporters.
Soni was among those booked in a case registered for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of a community), wrongful restraint, voluntarily causing hurt, rioting, armed with deadly weapons), unlawful assembly and mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees on the complaint of Gurjit Singh who alleged disrespect shown to his religion and thrashing by Sena activists.
After Jaspal’s death, the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered to provide seven gunmen to Soni. The next day on March 29, Jaspal Singh, a student of BTech first year at Beant College of Engineering and Technology, was killed amid police firing when members of Sikh community were reportedly trying to stop Shiv Sena activists from forcing bandh on a call given by Sena.
“Ehne Singhaan di kesri rang di pag pairan vich roli si ate usnu agg layi si. Mainu is gal di ranjish si (He (Soni) had removed turban of Sikhs, disrespected it with his feet and then had set it afire. I had a grudge against him for this reason),” a police official told, quoting the assailant during his interrogation as assailant referred to March 28, 2012, incident and then to Jaspal killing the next day.
The third death anniversary of Jaspal was observed by Sikh leaders in his native Chaur Sidhwan village in Gurdaspur on March 29 this year. The official said Kashmir Singh had come to Gurdaspur a few days back and was tracking the movements of Soni. Sources told that police also recovered a motorcycle, the registration number of which was “faked” by the assailant.
Meanwhile, Border Range Inspector General Ishwar Chander Sharma and Deputy Inspector General AK Mittal also reached Gurdaspur and told the representatives of the organisations that assailant had been arrested and further investigations were on.
Gurdaspur Senior Superintendent of Police Gurpreet Singh Toor said that a case of attempt to murder and under sections of Arms Act had been registered against the assailant. “We are verifying whether he is associated with some militant outfit,” said Toor. A number of Punjab Shiv Sena leaders who reached Fortis hospital to inquire about Soni claimed that they had been getting threats from Sikh militant organisations.