Adding to a long list of murderous attacks on the leaders belonging to the religious or right-wing outfits in Punjab, the brutal killing of another RSS leader in the broad daylight on Tuesday has raised serious security concerns of these leaders.
In the past two years, over half-a-dozen such incidents have been reported from different regions of the State laying bare the law and order situation in Punjab - including killing of Namdhari sect’s Mata Chand Kaur, RSS leader Brig Jagdish Gagneja, Pastor Sultan Masih, Shiv Sena leader Durga Prasad Gupta among others.
More interestingly, the similarity in all these incidents further calls into question the motive behind such killings.
Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh leader Ravinder Gosai was shot dead by as two unidentified motorcycle-borne assailants fired bullets in broad daylight - in a common thread in most of such high-profile cases.
Either the Special Investigation Teams (SITs) have been set up to probe into these cases or the matter has been handed over to the central probe agency. However, the police are just groping in dark in all these cases with no major breakthrough.
The Congress party, before coming to power, had always criticised the erstwhile SAD-BJP Government for its failure to maintain law and order situation in the State, and for swelling list of unsolved cases.
But with two high-profile murder cases reported in just seven months of its rule, the Congress Government has come on a back foot.
It was only four months back when ludhiana’s Pastor Sultan Masih was shot dead by two bike-borne assailants on June 16 outside a church in Peeru Banda Mohalla of Salem Tabri. The Government has constituted a SIT, but the case is still unsolved.
Earlier in February, Dera Sacha Sauda follower Satpal Sharma and his son Ramesh were shot dead at Jagera village on ludhiana-Malerkotla road with the police making futile efforts with no breakthroughs.
In January, the district president of Shri Hindu Takht Amit Sharma was shot dead outside Durga Mata Temple near Jagraon Bridge. The case still remained unresolved.
Brigadier (retired) Jagdish Gagneja - second-in-command in RSS Punjab unit - breathed his last on September 22, last year, after battling for his life since August 6 when he was shot at by two motorcycle-borne assailants in Jalandhar in the busy market in the evening.
His killers still remain at large even as the case was probed by the SIT. The RSS’ State unit has demanded to ask the CBI to expedite its probe into the killing of the body’s senior leader.
In May 2016, a Sikh preacher Ranjit Singh Dhadrianwale closely escaped a murderous attacked as some youths opened indiscriminate fire at his cavalcade in ludhiana resulting in death of one of his aide.
In April last year, two motorcycle-borne assailants gun down Shiv Sena’s labour wing head Durga Prasad Gupta, just 28-year-old in Khanna.
In the same month, Mata Chand Kaur, wife of former head of the Namdhari sect late Satguru Jagjit Singh, was shot dead by two unidentified bike-borne assailants at the Bhaini Sahib Gurdwara complex.
The high-profile murder case was handed over to the premier investigating agency, the CBI, with no step forwards.
Two motorcycle-borne armed men opened fire on Rashtriya Swayamswak Sangh (RSS) leader Naresh Kumar in the wee hours at Shaheedi Park in Kidwai Nagar and fled in January 2016.
The RSS leader jumped aside to save himself from the attack, but suffered minor injury on his hand. The miscreants fled from the spot after the incident.