The head of a religious sect was shot dead allegedly by two unidentified assailants at Khukhrana village in Moga district.
32-year-old Parasmani Soni, head of the Dera Baba Farid sect, was shot dead on Saturday night while meeting his followers, the police said on Sunday.The two assailants entered his room on Dera premises and fired at him from close range before fleeing on a motorcycle, police said.Initial investigations has revealed that Parasmani did not enjoy good relations with the villagers as he was suspected to have developed “illicit relations” with a woman, according to the Senior Superintendent of Police Gursharan Singh Sandhu.
Police said that Parasmani came in contact with another person of adjoining Chotiankalan village and persuaded his mother that he would construct a hospital at Khukhrana at an estimated cost of Rs15 lakh.
The family gave him Rs15 lakh, but he purchased a plot claiming that he would later construct the hospital to which the family members objected, they said. He constructed his Dera on a two-acre land given by the people of Khukhrana village some five years back and his followers had multiplied in the last few years, police said.
The SSP said that police were keeping a vigil on him because of his “suspicious activities”.