Sukha shot down: Massive manhunt on

PHAGWARA: A massive manhunt has been launched to nab over a dozen members of a gang, which killed notorious criminal Sukha Kahlwan on National Highway No. 1 while he was being taken back to high security Nabha jail after a court hearing on Wednesday. The police failure to protect the undertrial despite six armed cops guarding him came in for criticism on Thursday.
Kapurthala SSP Dhanpreet Kaur and Phagwara SP Gursewak Brar have been shunted out. Both the officers were monitoring the investigation. Ashish Chaudhary has been posted as new SSP of Kapurthala and Rajeshwar Sidhu as new SP of Phagwara. Meanwhile, two ASI of Patiala police, who were heading the police party, have been dismissed from service after Patiala IG Paramjit Singh Gill examined the lapses in police security. Four other police personnel have been placed under suspension and an enquiry for major penalty or dismissal has been instituted against them.
On the other hand, police officials said that the main assailants had been identified and they had criminal record against them. Patiala police claimed that the leader of the gang had claimed that he was Gounder Malout and had avenged murder of his brother by Sukha. SSP Dhanpreet Kaur said the gang was wearing monkey caps.
Relatives of Sukha, who gathered at Civil Hospital where the autopsy was conducted, demanded a probe into the case alleging that it was unprecedented that an accused was killed despite half a dozen armed policemen guarding him. They also questioned the use of an open vehicle for transporting Sukha, whose parents live abroad.
Sources said 31 bullet marks were detected on the body. Phagwara SP Gursewak Brar said apart from .12 bore guns, pistols and revolvers were also used by the killers. Amarjit Kaur and Rajinder Kaur, two aunts of Sukha demanded a magisterial probe into the killing. They said role of the cops should also be probed.
Jalandhar Zone IG Lok Nath Angra held a meeting with senior officers here and special teams have been formed to hunt down the gang. In addition, Muktsar police are looking for Harjinder Singh, a resident of Malout and notorious criminal, in this connection.
Police raided several hideouts of Harjinder but failed to nab him. Sources said one of the gang members who killed Sukha was Harjinder. Muktsar SSP Kuldeep Singh Chahal said Harjinder was a proclaimed offender and raids had been conducted to nab him.