Chandigarh, March 8: Two days after a 24-year-old youth, a former student leader, was shot dead, the crime branch of the UT police arrested five suspects from near IT Park. The prime suspect, Sudeep Pahal, who is associated with INSO, and another suspect, Naveen, are yet to be arrested.
A team of the crime branch, led by Inspector Amanjot Singh, arrested the five suspects — Rahul Manda (21), a student of DAV College, Ramdeep Sheokand (21), Sumit Kumar (23), Sushil Kumar (20) and Amandeep Nehra, alias Bachi (21). They were arrested from near IT Park while travelling in an i20 car. Rahul, Sumit and Sushil are BA final-year students of DAV College, Sector 10.
Vishal Chhillar, a former student of DAV College, who had remained the president of INSO, was shot dead at a rented flat in Sector 49 on March 6. Three of his friends — Pankaj, Ashish and Meghal — were also attacked with sharp weapons.
Sequence of events
The police said Sudeep, who is associated with INSO, and one of the victims, Pankaj, who is associated with the Hindustan Student Association (HSA), had an argument during the student elections around three years ago. Both groups were holding a grudge against each other.
The police said on March 5, Vishal Chhillar, Pankaj and their associates went to the rented accommodation of suspect Sumit Kumar in New
Chandigarh. “The information that Sumit and his friends will be attacked was leaked by Vishal’s friend Amandeep Nehra (who is one of the suspects) following which Sumit escaped from the house. On reaching the house in New Chandigarh, they found it locked after which they vandalised a Polo car parked outside the house,” said a police official.
The police said Vishal and his associates returned to the flat in Sector 49 where Vishal’s party, who had got a job, was to be held.
The police said Vishal came to know that Amandeep Nehra, who was also present at the party, had informed Sumit about their plans to attack him. Vishal and his associates then thrashed Amandeep on the intervening night of March 5 and 6.
Amandeep took a cab and went to Sumit’s house in New Chandigarh and narrated the entire incident to them.
The police said all suspects then arrived at the flat in Sector 49 in an i20 car. The police said Sudeep and Naveen fired gunshots at Vishal, while the remaining suspects attacked the other victims with sharp weapons. The suspects then escaped to Rishikesh.
The pistols used in the crime are yet to be recovered by the police.
Victims had vandalised Polo car
A few hours before the incident, Vishal and his friends had vandalised a Polo car belonging to one of the suspects in New Chandigarh. Sumit, who is one of the murder suspects, had reported the matter to the Mullanpur police.
Another suspect?
The complaint had named Satnam as one of the suspects. However, police sources said his role in the incident was yet to be established.
