MOHALI: Youth Akali Dal leader Vikramjit Singh, alias Vicky Middukhera, was chased and shot dead in Sector 71 here on Saturday morning.
In the evening, the Devinder Bambiha gang claimed responsibility for the broad daylight murder in a Facebook post, accusing the 32-year-old of being an informer for a rival, Lawrence Bishnoi gang.
At 11 am, Middukhera was about to sit in his Fortuner after meeting a property dealer in the market when two men holding pistols opened fire. The ex-president of Students Organisation of India (SOI), a student wing of the SAD active in Panjab University (PU), threw an object at one of the shooters and ran for cover. The two shooters chased him and shot him. The murder was caught on a CCTV camera. Middukhera had got married two years ago. Police said four armed men had reached the parking lot in a white Hyundai i-20 car.
Two of them remained in the vehicle, while the others went after Middukhera as soon as he reached near the door of his SUV.
Middukhera was hit by around nine bullets. He died on the spot. We are checking CCTV footage from the market too. Cops are investigating the murder from all possible angles,” SSP Satinder Singh said.
Police have not ruled out gang rivalry. They suspect Gaurav Patial, alias Lucky, a member of the Bambiha gang, to be behind the killing. Patial is believed to be in Armenia. Patial believed Middukhera was close to the Bishnoi gang, sources said. The Facebook post by the Bambiha gang bolstered the theory.
In the post, the gang posted a picture of Middukhera with Bishnoi, writing that he was close to their rivals and Patial had warned him. The post alleged the Bishnoi gang had killed two Bambiha aides, Gurlal Bhalwan and Rana Sidhu, on information provided by Middukhera. The gang also claimed he used to provide phone numbers and details of Punjabi singers and other businessmen to Bishnoi for extortion.
In a statement, SAD said the killing was the direct result of the “free rein given to gangsters by the Congress government”. The party demanded an independent probe. Former SAD minister Bikram Singh Majithia said the broad daylight killing proved that no one is safe in Punjab.
Majithia demanded an internal inquiry to ascertain whether there had been laxity in administering law and order in Mohali. Youth Akali Dal president Parambans Singh Romana condoled the demise of Middukhera. He said Middukhera was a popular student leader during his time in PU and had played a pivotal role in strengthening SOI. Romana said Vicky was known as a hard worker
While the police are searching for Vinay Deora of Kotkapura, booked in eight criminal cases, as a suspect in the murder case of Youth Akali leader Vicky Middukhera, some others have joined the “war” of allegations and counter-allegations.
Countering the police theory that Middukhera was killed as he was involved in the murder of Gurlal Singh Pehalwan, Youth Congress Faridkot president, Sukhchain Singh, Pehalwan’s father, today accused cops of misleading the investigation.
“There was no rivalry between my son Pehalwan and Middukhera. They were very close to each other. Projecting them as ‘rivals’, the police are trying to give the wrong impression and mislead the investigation in both cases,” he said.
Pehalwan was killed in Faridkot on February 17. The police claimed that Pehalwan’s murder was orchestrated by a Canada-based gangster and his associate and jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. Middukhera was accused of having had his closeness with Bishnoi group. Two days ago, a police team had reached the house of Vinay Deora but found it locked.
Sources in the police said Vinay was one of the suspects in Middukhera’s murder as he has been identified from the CCTV footage as the left-handed shooter. They believe Vinay’s brother Lavi was killed earlier by the Lawrence Bishnoi gang and Middukhera’s murder was in retribution for the same.
However, opposing this theory, Vinay on his social media accounts claimed that he had nothing to do with Middukhera’s murder and the police were targeting him in a false criminal case to kill him in a “fake” encounter.
In Pehalwan case, his father alleged, the police had failed to make any progress even after six months. However, Dr Balkrishan, SP (D), Faridkot, refuted the allegations, saying the police were making all efforts to bring the accused and the investigation was under way. — TNS
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