A three-member Special Investigating Team (SIT) will probe into the alleged police encounter of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Mukhjit Singh Mukha on Tuesday evening.SIT, headed by IGP (crime) Nageshwar Rao, was constituted on late Tuesday night. Other members include SP (crime) Tejinder Singh Maur and DIG (border range) AK Mittal.
The SIT was formed following the strong protest by the SAD workers, who have been alleging that their leader Mukha was killed intentionally, and it was a clear case of murder. They had demanded that the cops responsible for it should he booked under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The team visited the site of the encounter on Wednesday and re-created the crime scene. The bullet-ridden car that Mukha was driving was also ferried to the siteIJ. The team collected evidence and analysed the footage of the CCTV camera, installed outside the rubber factory located on the spot.
Akali Dal leader was killed on Tuesday evening in exchange of fire with the Punjab Police, which claimed that he was mistaken for a gangster Jagjit Singh Jagga. Eyewitnesses said that the policemen were in civil dress.Amritsar Police Commissioner Jatinder Singh Aulakh, a day before, had claimed that the killing of Mukha was a “case of mistaken identity”.
Aulakh had maintained that the city police had specific inputs that notorious gangster Jagga was going to commit some crime in a Hyundai i-20 car.Acting on a tip-off, the police team rushed towards Mudhal village, and when the police intercepted i-20 car bearing no number plates, the occupant sped away and fired at the police team following him, he had said.
Meanwhile, the SAD, led by Amritsar (urban) district unit chief Upkar Singh Sandhu, staged a protest demanding registration of a murder case against the cops. SAD activists blocked Amritsar bypass at Verka chowk disrupting traffic. A few workers also blocked the Mehta road near Vallaha.later, on the assurance of the SIT, Akalis agreed to lift the protest. The decision to cremate the body was also taken thereafter. The body had been kept at a gurdwara in Verka since Tuesday night.