In yet another shocking incident, two unidentified motorcycle-borne assailants shot dead a senior Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) leader in ludhiana on Tuesday sending a shockwave across the State.
Sixty-year-old Ravinder Gosain was returning home after attending a morning drill at the RSS shakhawhen he was attacked, and he died on the spot and the attackers fled.
RSS city secretary Yash Giri, while condemning the incident, said that it was “definitely a target killing. The victim was in Sangh uniform and about to enter his house when the killers targeted him”.
Police said that they were examining CCTV footage from the cameras installed in the locality to get a clue about the culprits. Two suspects, with their faces covered, on a bike could be seen in the CCTV footage, they said.
“We are working on various theories. Police teams have been dispatched to various places in search of the killers,” said ludhiana Commissioner of Police RN Dhoke.
He said that investigations were underway but added that it would be premature to term the incident as “terrorist crime”.
Significantly, last year, another senior RSS leader Jagdish Gagneja died after he was shot by bike-borne assailants in Jalandhar. The incident also comes at a time when BJP has been protesting against the killing of RSS and its own workers in Kerala.
Opposition parties, the BJP and the SAD, strongly condemned Gosain’s killing.
Punjab BJP chief and Union Minister Vijay Sampla alleged that the killing proved that the law and order situation had deteriorated in Punjab. “His murder is reminiscent of the black days of terrorism,” said Sampla while demanding security for RSS and BJP leaders.
I have taken up this issue with Punjab Governor VP Singh Badnore and he told me that a report on this matter has been sought from the home secretary, said Sampla.
“It is an unfortunate incident and we strongly condemn it. It is an attempt to disturb the communal harmony in Punjab,” SAD spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema said.
The State Government should take this incident seriously, and those responsible for this heinous crime should be put behind bars, demanded Cheema.