Punjab RSS leader killing: Suspect escapes after villagers fire at cops in Ghaziabad

A suspect who allegedly supplied arms for the killing of an RSS leader in Punjab managed to flee from a Ghaziabad village after locals allegedly fired upon a raiding team of National Investigation agency (NIA) and Uttar Pradesh police early on Sunday.

The joint team was following a lead in connection with the killing of religious leaders in Punjab since last year.

“During the raid, a large crowd of men and women tried to obstruct the local police and the NIA team. Some people in the mob started firing at the (police and NIA) parties. The firing was followed by stone pelting,” the NIA said in a statement.

The mob also blocked roads at many locations. The UP Police and NIA personnel fired in the air in self defence.

A UP police constable Tahjib Khan suffered injury in his leg and an official vehicle was damaged in the incident.

The NIA has been entrusted with probe into the killing of RSS leader Ravinder Gosain in Punjab’s Ludhiana in October.

Punjab police had arrested two accused Ramandeep Singh of Ludhiana and Hardeep Singh of Italy (his parents live in Amloh of Fatehgarh Sahib) for their involvement in the killing.

NIA, which took over the case and their custody later, had earlier said that the two were allegedly involved in eight previous incidents of murder or attempted murder in Punjab since January 2016, targets of which were religious leaders, primarily of the RSS or Hindu organisations.

The NIA had claimed that the murders were a larger conspiracy to destabilise Punjab and it was hatched by Sikh extremist elements based in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, United Arab Emirates and Pakistan.

During interrogation of the Punjab-based accused, names of some suspects from western Uttar Pradesh emerged for allegedly supplying arms.

The agency has been raiding various places in neighbouring Meerut district since Saturday night.

On getting more leads, a raid was conducted at the residence of suspect Malook (resident of Nahali village in Ghaziabad) on Sunday morning, when the locals fired upon them and pelted stones, NIA spokesman said.

However, Malook’s brother Naushad said the police teams were mostly dressed in civilian clothes.

“They were asking for my brother and had jumped into our house from nearby houses. They broke all our household items and beat us up,” Naushad said.

When the cops were leaving after picking up Malook, villagers questioned them about his offence. When they did not answer, it created resentment among the villagers, he said.

Angry villagers then obstructed the police, who allegedly opened fire, prompting the locals to pelt stones at the cops. During the melee, Malook fled.

Naushad said Malook was involved in a murder case in 2011, for which he was lodged in jail and freed around 8–9 months back.

“He now operates a small dairy business and was at home when police arrived. Now, we don’t know his whereabouts. He is being implicated in a false case,” he said.

Police conducted an area domination exercise on Sunday afternoon and picked up a person allegedly involved in mobilising villagers against the cops.

A case has been registered against nearly 150 persons, including Malook’s family members, in connection with the violence on Sunday morning, and efforts are on to trace Malook.

Villagers said most of the men have fled the village following the crackdown by police teams.