CHANDIGARH: Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday announced that the murder case of cricketer Suresh Raina’s relatives in Pathankot has been cracked by the state police with the arrest of three members of an inter-state gang of robber-criminals.
The attack on Raina’s kin had taken place on the night of August 19 in Tharyal village under police station Shahpurkandi in Pathankot district.
DGP Dinkar Gupta said that 11 other accused are yet to be arrested in the case. Raina’s uncle Ashok Kumar, a contractor by profession, had died on the spot while his son Kaushal succumbed to injuries on August 31 and wife Asha Rani is still in hospital in critical condition.
Two others injured in the attack were later discharged from hospital. Punjab chief minister had ordered the constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by IG border range Amritsar, after the incident.
It was on Tuesday that the SIT got information that three suspects, who were seen at the defence road on the morning after the incident on August 20, were staying in a slum near the Pathankot railway station. The SIT conducted a raid and all three were nabbed. The accused had been identified as Sawan alias Matching, Muhobbat and Shahrukh Khan, all residents of Chirawa and Pilani slums in Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu district. The police team had recovered a gold ring bearing AK, one ladies ring, one ladies gold chain and Rs 1,530, along with two wooden sticks from the arrested accused.
The investigation team (SIT) under IG border range Amritsar, with SSP Pathankot, SP investigation and DSP Dhar Kalan as its members, to probe the case. The SIT during the investigation had questioned more than 100 suspected people in the FIR registered for murder and under other sections of the IPC on August 20.
Modus operandi
The DGP said that as per the initial investigation, the accused were operating as a gang along with others and had committed several such crimes earlier in Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and various parts of Punjab. They used to move to the crime spots in groups of 2-3 following the natural landmarks like canals, railway lines and high voltage electricity wires.
The DGP said that Sawan, originally a native of Uttar Pradesh, had told the SIT that on August 12, they had moved as a group from Chirawa and Pilani in an auto (PB 02 G 9025) owned by one Nausau who is also living in the Chirawa slums. Nausau had accompanied the trio, along with Rashid, Rehan, Jabrana, Waphila, Tawajjal Bibi and an unknown person.
They reached Jagraon in Ludhiana district where they were joined by three others – Reenda, Golu and Sajan. They purchased an aari (hand saw), two pliers and one screwdriver from a hardware shop and a few undergarments from a garment shop in Ludhiana. They left for Pathankot after committing a robbery in Jagraon on the night of August 14.
After they reached Pathankot, one Sanju, who knew the area well, also joined them and the gang conducted a recce of the area.
Finally, on August 19 night at around 7-8pm they moved in groups of 2-3 persons as per their modus operandi and reached a designated spot in the open field where Rashid, Nausau and Sanju alias Chajju went to bring wooden sticks which they cut from Safeda (Eucalyptus) tree.
The accused have told that during recce, they had already identified a shuttering shop where the bamboo ladders were tied up using chains. The first two houses where they put the ladders turned out to be a godown and an empty home while the third was of Ashok Kumar. Five of the accused entered the house using the ladder from the side of the roof, where they saw three people lying on the mats. The suspects hit them on the head before moving into the house, where they attacked two others before escaping with cash and gold ornaments, said the DGP.
He added that the accused then crossed the high tension electricity wires through the open field to reach the canal where they separated in groups to reach the railway station. After distributing the cash and jewellery among themselves, they dispersed from the area.
The attack on Raina’s kin had taken place on the night of August 19 in Tharyal village under police station Shahpurkandi in Pathankot district.
DGP Dinkar Gupta said that 11 other accused are yet to be arrested in the case. Raina’s uncle Ashok Kumar, a contractor by profession, had died on the spot while his son Kaushal succumbed to injuries on August 31 and wife Asha Rani is still in hospital in critical condition.
Two others injured in the attack were later discharged from hospital. Punjab chief minister had ordered the constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by IG border range Amritsar, after the incident.
It was on Tuesday that the SIT got information that three suspects, who were seen at the defence road on the morning after the incident on August 20, were staying in a slum near the Pathankot railway station. The SIT conducted a raid and all three were nabbed. The accused had been identified as Sawan alias Matching, Muhobbat and Shahrukh Khan, all residents of Chirawa and Pilani slums in Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu district. The police team had recovered a gold ring bearing AK, one ladies ring, one ladies gold chain and Rs 1,530, along with two wooden sticks from the arrested accused.
The investigation team (SIT) under IG border range Amritsar, with SSP Pathankot, SP investigation and DSP Dhar Kalan as its members, to probe the case. The SIT during the investigation had questioned more than 100 suspected people in the FIR registered for murder and under other sections of the IPC on August 20.
Modus operandi
The DGP said that as per the initial investigation, the accused were operating as a gang along with others and had committed several such crimes earlier in Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and various parts of Punjab. They used to move to the crime spots in groups of 2-3 following the natural landmarks like canals, railway lines and high voltage electricity wires.
The DGP said that Sawan, originally a native of Uttar Pradesh, had told the SIT that on August 12, they had moved as a group from Chirawa and Pilani in an auto (PB 02 G 9025) owned by one Nausau who is also living in the Chirawa slums. Nausau had accompanied the trio, along with Rashid, Rehan, Jabrana, Waphila, Tawajjal Bibi and an unknown person.
They reached Jagraon in Ludhiana district where they were joined by three others – Reenda, Golu and Sajan. They purchased an aari (hand saw), two pliers and one screwdriver from a hardware shop and a few undergarments from a garment shop in Ludhiana. They left for Pathankot after committing a robbery in Jagraon on the night of August 14.
After they reached Pathankot, one Sanju, who knew the area well, also joined them and the gang conducted a recce of the area.
Finally, on August 19 night at around 7-8pm they moved in groups of 2-3 persons as per their modus operandi and reached a designated spot in the open field where Rashid, Nausau and Sanju alias Chajju went to bring wooden sticks which they cut from Safeda (Eucalyptus) tree.
The accused have told that during recce, they had already identified a shuttering shop where the bamboo ladders were tied up using chains. The first two houses where they put the ladders turned out to be a godown and an empty home while the third was of Ashok Kumar. Five of the accused entered the house using the ladder from the side of the roof, where they saw three people lying on the mats. The suspects hit them on the head before moving into the house, where they attacked two others before escaping with cash and gold ornaments, said the DGP.
He added that the accused then crossed the high tension electricity wires through the open field to reach the canal where they separated in groups to reach the railway station. After distributing the cash and jewellery among themselves, they dispersed from the area.