Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, September 16
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh said on Wednesday that the attack and murder case involving the family of cricketer Suresh Raina has been “solved” with the arrest of three members of an interstate criminal gang.
Eleven other defendants have not yet been arrested, DGP Dinkar Gupta said, giving details of the arrests in the case, which took place on the night of August 19 in the village of Tharyal in Pathankot.
Meanwhile, the cricketer also visited the village on Wednesday.
Raina’s uncle, Ashok Kumar, a contractor, was killed instantly, while his son Kaushal Kumar succumbed to injuries on August 31 and his wife Asha Rani is in a hospital in critical condition. Two other wounded in the attack had been discharged from the hospital.
Shortly after the incident, the Chief Minister had ordered the constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under IGP Border Range, Amritsar, with SSP, Pathankot, SP Investigation and DSP, Dhar Kalan, as its members, to investigate the case to thoroughly and quickly.
On September 15, the SIT received information that three suspects, who were seen on Defense Road the morning after the incident, were staying in Jhuggis near the Pathankot train station. A raid was carried out and all three were captured.
According to the DGP, two gold rings, a gold chain and 1,530 rupees, along with two wooden sticks, were recovered from the detained defendants. They have been identified as Sawan, Muhobbat, and Shahrukh Khan. They are residents of Chirawa and Pilani jhuggis in Rajasthan.
The initial investigation has revealed that they operated as a gang together with others and had committed several such crimes previously in Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and various parts of Punjab, moving to the crime sites in groups of 2-3 following the marks. natural. such as canals, railways, high voltage electric cables, etc.
Sawan, a native of Uttar Pradesh, told SIT that on 12 August they had moved as a group from Chirawa and Pilani in a car owned by one Nausau, who also lived in the Chirawa jhuggis.
Nausau accompanied the trio, along with Rashid, Rehan, Jabrana, Waphila, Tawajjal Bibi, and an unknown person.
They reached Jagraon, Ludhiana, where they were joined by three others: Reenda, Golu, and Sajan. They left for Pathankot after committing a robbery in Jagraon on the night of August 14.
In Pathankot, a Sanju, who knew the area well, also joined them, DGP said.
On August 19, around 7-8 pm, they moved in groups of 2-3 people, according to their modus operandi, and arrived at a designated place in the open field where Rashid, Nausau and Sanju @ Chajju went to bring sticks. wood, which they cut from the Safeda tree (Eucalyptus).
They had already identified a formwork shop during the reconnaissance of the area earlier, where the bamboo ladders were tied with chains. The first two houses where they placed the stairs turned out to be a downturn and an empty house, while the third was Ashok Kumar’s. Five of the defendants entered the house through the stairs on the side of the roof, where they saw three people lying on the mats. The suspects beat them on the head before moving into the home, where they attacked two others before escaping with cash and gold ornaments, DGP said.
The defendants then crossed the high-tension cables through the open field to reach the Canal, where they separated into groups of two and three to reach the train station. After distributing the cash and jewelry among them.
