Suspecting feud within Namdhari sect, CBI probe in murder of three

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation has taken over the probe into three murder cases in Ludhiana and Jalandhar, believed to be interlinked, including the killing of Chand Kaur, 84-year old wife of a former Namdhari sect chief Satguru Jagjit Singh.
Kaur was shot dead by two unidentified assailants at Bhaini Sahib near Ludhiana in April last year.
In addition to the murder of Chand Kaur, CBI has also registered two more FIRs related to a car explosion in December 2015 in which a cloth merchant Ajay Kumar was killed in Dugri village, 20 kilometres from Jalandhar.
Besides, FIR in a third case related to the murder of Namdhari leader Avtar Singh Tari in April, 2011 has also been filed in which an accused Dalip Singh has been named.
All the three cases are belived to be arising from the feud among different groups of Namdhari sect, the sources said.
The CBI took over the probe from Punjab police.
In its recommendation to handing over of probe to CBI, Punjab government home department had said, “All these three incidents are interconnected and appear to be handiwork of same persons or organisation.”
“There is commonality in all these cases...All these cases are result of some conspiracy and are part of sinister design of some hostile/anti-national group or organisation whose motive is to disturb peace and law and order in the state. There is urgent need to apprehend the culprits for unearthing the conspiracy and to solve these cases,” it said.
Two accused wanted in the explosive case have already fled the country, it said.
“These cases have national and international ramifications and the possibility that the perpetrators have a base in some other part of the country or abroad cannot be ruled out,” the notification issued on September 11, 2016 said.