Two arrested for planning to kill Nihang Sikh Jathebandi head
The Delhi Police has arrested two people who were planning to kill the head of the largest Nihang Sikh Jathebandi in Punjab as well as a witness in a murder case, officials said on Wednesday. The accused have been identified as Malkit Singh (27), a resident of Azadpur in Delhi, and Bhupinder Singh (24), a resident of Gurdaspur in Punjab, they said.
Two pistols and 20 live cartridges were recovered from their possession, police said. “Acting on a tip-off, a raid was conducted and the duo was apprehended from near Beri Wala Bagh, Shalimar Bagh in Delhi,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said. Interrogation revealed that Malkit’s father Baldev Singh was appointed as ‘granthi’ in Gurudwara Jaimal Singh, Rab da Kutta, Lal Bagh, Azadpur.
In 2007, Bladev was arrested in a firing incident at Patiala in which four Nihang Sikhs were killed, the DCP said. Later, Lakhbir Singh was appointed as granthi in Gurudwara Jaimal Singh.
In 2010, Malkit along with his mother Jasbir Kaur and two Sewadars–Sukhpal Singh and Ranjit Singh–kidnapped Lakhbir and killed him, the officer said, adding that all the four accused persons were arrested and convicted to life imprisonment. On August 1, 2020, Malkit got parole due to COVID-19 and started planning for two more murders, police said.
During interrogation, he revealed that he wanted to take revenge from the head of a faction of Nihang Sikh Buddha Dal as he believed that the head was responsible for keeping him and his family members in jail, the DCP said. Malkit also wanted someone known to him to head the Jathebandi, he said. He also wanted to kill one of his neighbours, who was a witness in the murder case of granthi Lakhbir, police added.
