Friends and family members of the victim protest outside Sector 39 police station, Chandigarh, Sunday. (Express Photo)Two days after the murder of Amit Katoch in broad daylight at Sector 40 market, Chandigarh police Sunday arrested four accused in connection with the case.
Three of the accused persons – identified as Tilak DC (21), Ritvik Bhardwaj (20), and Chetan Singh (18) – were arrested by a crime branch team headed by Inspector Amanjot Singh. Sources claimed fourth accused Hardeep Singh Laddi, 21, surrendered before the police, but police said he was arrested by a team of Sector 39 police station from Ludhiana.
Hardeep Singh Laddi was also involved in the kidnapping case in which main accused Rajat Tiwari is also wanted. Tiwari is still absconding and police said he will be arrested shortly.
SSP(UT) Nilambri Vijay Jagdale said, “Different teams were working for cracking this case since after the crime took place on June 28. Interrogation of the accused revealed that Amit was being chased by the five assailants including Tiwari on an Activa scooter and one motorcycle from Sunny Enclave in Kharar. The scooter belonged to Tiwari and motorcycle was found registered on the name of Chetan Singh’s mother. All the four accused will be produced in the local court on Monday. Hardeep Singh Laddi was arrested from Ludhiana.”
Hardeep Singh Laddi, Tilak DC and Ritvik Bhardwaj are residents of village Burail in Sector 45 and Chetan Singh is a resident of Sector 34. The two vehicles were used for chasing the victim from Kharar and fleeing from the spot after committing the crime in Sector 40.
Police said Hardeep Singh Laddi and Rajat Tiwari stabbed the victim with knives, hit him with bottles and helmet, and three others cordoned the victim when he tried to ran away.
Earlier in the day, the family members of Amit Katoch had held a protest outside Sector 39 police station and demanded the arrest of the accused. The family members alleged that the police was slow in arresting the accused who used to live in Tricity.
Amit Katoch’s relative Adarsh Sharma said that the it had been two days since the murder happened but the police have not arrested all the accused persons. He added that Rajat Tiwari is also a resident of the same locality- Sunny Enclave in Kharar – and he could not leave the city in such a short span of time.
