Abohar Businessman's Murder: 2 Accused Killed In Police Encounter During Weapon Recovery

Chandigarh: Two men, allegedly involved in the high-profile killing of a prominent businessman of Abohar town, Sanjay Verma, on Monday, were killed in a police encounter during recovery of the murder weapon on the outskirts of the town on Tuesday.

The murder of Verma, who was a partner of a well-known clothing emporium of the town, shocked the traders across the state, raised questions on the law and order situation in the state and evoked sharp reactions from the opposition parties against the law and order situation under the ruling AAP government.

Verma was shot dead when he was in his car outside his showroom, near Bhagat Singh chowk, one of the town’s busiest market places around 10 am, when three men reached the spot on a motorcycle and two of them fired about eight bullets at Verma, killing him on the spot.

The assailants fled the spot using the motorcycle which they abandoned later and escaped in a car parked nearby.

However, the police said that they nabbed two accused, identified as Jaspreet Singh and Ram Ratan, on the basis of the CCTV footage on Tuesday, and took them to for the recovery of the weapon used in the crime from near Panj Pir Tibba. Police said that possibly there were some other criminals hiding there who opened fire at police and when police fired in self-defence, the two accused were killed in the cross-fire.

The state government also faced severe criticism as the shocking killing came within days of top Punjabi actor Tania’s father being shot at by two gunmen at his clinic in Moga district, in another alleged case of extortion.