Killing of gangster’s mother, cousin: Bhagwanpuria group threatens retaliation; police fear gang war

The police apprehended the breakout of a gang war as jailed gangster Jaggu Bhagwanpuria’s group on Saturday threatened retaliation for the murder of his mother and cousin by two motorcycle-borne assailants here two days ago.

Harjit Kaur, mother of Bhagwanpuria, and her nephew Karanvir Singh were shot dead from point-blank range on Thursday night outside their house on the Batala-Qadian road.

The Davinder-Bambiha gang had taken responsibility for the murders. However, in a social media post today, the gang said it had no intention to kill Harjit Kaur. It added that was been killed accidentally.

“Our men had come to kill Karanvir, who is close to Jaggu Bhagwanpuria. Due to darkness, they failed to spot Harjit Kaur. We always enter gang wars and not family wars,” read the post.

In response to the killings, the Bhagwanpuria faction too took to social media, saying, “Do not blame us now if we commit any crime.”

According to senior police officers, gangsters never took to killing each other’s family members and the incident was unprecedented. “Such a thing has happened for the first time. In all likelihood, this ghastly incident will trigger another gang war because the Bhagwanpuria faction will not be ready to take things lying down,” said a senior officer.

Kin block national highway

Meanwhile, the family and acquaintances of Bhagwanpuria blocked the Amritsar-Jammu highway, seeking action against people named as accused in an FIR lodged by a relative in connection with the murders.

The gangster’s relatives refused to cremate the victims and placed their bodies on the road, leading to piling up of vehicles on both sides of the national highway.

They demanded action against the persons named in their complaint, including Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa.

A relative of the gangster, Rajwinder Kaur, has alleged in the complaint that killers were “in touch” with Randhawa after committing the crime.

The complaint was submitted to the Batala SSP yesterday. She had claimed that the assailants had “spoken” to Randhawa through a video call after they committing the crime.

She had also named the MP’s son Udayveer Singh, liquor contractor Amandeep Singh Jaintipuria, Rajinder Singh and Nirmal Singh in the complaint.

Neither Batala SSP Suhail Qasim Mir nor the MP could be contacted for comments.

At one stage, the demonstrators told the police that they were ready to call off the protest but later reneged on their promise.

Exasperated commuters could be heard saying they were being harassed for no fault of theirs.

An Amritsar-bound woman said she had to catch a flight to Mumbai but now was forced to make other plans.

There were several others like her even as the traffic police made alternative arrangements for them to reach their destination.

Punjab