Fourth accused arrested in priest murder case

LUDHIANA: Two days after the arrest of three accused in the priest murder case, Ludhiana (rural) police nabbed the fourth suspect from Sanghera in Barnala on Wednesday.

Baba Bhola Singh, caretaker of a gaushala (cowshed) in Barnala’s Sanghera; his brother Balvir Singh, a labourer; and his driver Daya Singh of Jammu’s Gandhi Nagar were arrested on December 10. Harnek Singh is the fourth accused who provided weapon to the trio.

On December 4, Daya had kidnapped Baba Ajaib Singh, 56, priest at Gurdwara Taali Sahib in Ratna village of Jodhan. In the evening, the trio killed him at the Sanghera cowshed. Ajaib’s body was found in a 10-foot-deep pit on the cowshed’s premises.

Ludhiana (rural) SSP Varinder Singh said, “Harnek had provided weapon to the accused. With his arrest, police have recovered the revolver, five live cartridges, an empty cartridge, a syringe and pesticide used to commit the crime.”

During investigation, it was found that Daya took Ajaib along with him in the latter’s SUV (HR 65 -8794). Daya was his former driver.

“Bhola, along with Balvir and Daya, had hatched a plan to extort money from Ajaib, who had recently returned from Canada. When Ajaib refused to give them money, they planned to eliminate him. They first injected a pesticide into his body and then shot him in his head. They then buried his body in a pit at the backyard of the cowshed. Daya had started working with Bhola last year,” the SSP added.