Attack on NRI: 3 assailants held, two shot at during escape bid

The two contract killers, who opened fire at NRI Sukhchain Singh in his Amritsar house leaving him critically injured on Saturday, were arrested along with their third accomplice from Hoshiarpur on Monday. Hours later, both received gunshot injuries while trying to escape from police custody during recovery of the firearms in Amritsar’s Vallah area.
Amritsar police commissioner Ranjit Singh Dhillon said that during a joint operation with the Hoshiarpur police, both shooters, Gurkirat Singh, alias Guri, of Buttran village of Jalandhar district and Sukhwinder Singh of Jairampur village of Kapurthala, were caught. Their third accomplice, Sukhwinder Singh, alias Sabi, of Buttran village (Jalandhar), was also arrested.
He said both shooters were taken to a canal in Vallah where they had hid their pistols after targeting the NRI, but they dodged the cops, picking the firearms and opening fire at the policemen. The police retaliated and both sustained injuries during the exchange of fire. One of them received a gunshot injury in his thigh while the other sustained a leg injury. Both have been admitted to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital of the Government Medical College here, Dhillon said, adding that the accused would be produced in a court and their police remand would be sought for a thorough interrogation.
A fresh FIR has been lodged against both for opening fire at the policemen during their escape bid, the police said.
According to the police, NRI Sukhchain Singh was targeted on the directions of kin of his first wife who had committed suicide in 2022. The deceased’s US-based brother, Sukhwinder Singh, came in contact with Gurkirat Singh, alias Guri, through his friend Manpreet Singh, alias Manna. Sukhwinder informed Guri about five months ago that he wanted a revenge from Sukhchain Singh for the death of his sister, said the police commissioner.
“About two months ago, an unknown person showed Guri the house of the NRI and US-based Sukhwinder arranged three pistols for him. Then both the shooters, along with Sabi, came to Amritsar with pistols and stayed in different hotels. To kill Sukhchain, the shooters went to his house acting as employees of some car agency and Sabi was in the street keeping a watch outside,” he said.
The commissioner further said that after carrying out the crime, they went to Khadoor Sahib and after parking their bike in the parking lot of a gurdwara, they returned to Amritsar and hid the three pistols in the Vallah canal area and went to a hotel. They took their belongings and left for Hoshiarpur.
Earlier in the day, Hoshiarpur superintendent of police (investigation) Sarbjit Singh Bahia said the police, acting on a tip-off, raided a ‘dharmashala’ (inn) in the busy Gaushala Bazar area and arrested Gurkirat and Sukhwinder. The third accused was arrested from Subhanpur in Kapurthala.
As per the deal, the assailants were to get ₹15 lakh. They had already received ₹85,000 from the US-based brother (Sukhwinder) of the NRI’s deceased wife, said the Amritsar police commissioner.
Prior to this, the police had arrested five persons, including Sarwan Singh (father of NRI’s first wife) of Bains village in Hoshiarpur, Jagjit Singh (29) and Chamkaur Singh (38) of Bhatth village in Tarn Taran who helped the assailants before committing the crime, hotel owner Digambar Attri and hotel manager Abhilash Bhaskar, who provided accommodation to the assailants without seeking the shooters’ identity proofs.
The brother (Sukhwinder) of the NRI’s first wife, sister Kuljinder Kaur and her husband Jasvir Singh, all residing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, have already been booked. His first wife’s mother Nishan Kaur has also been booked but not arrested as investigation is going on, according to the police.
On Saturday morning, both assailants had barged into the NRI’s house and opened fire at him, leaving him seriously injured. He is undergoing treatment in a private hospital here. The attack was captured in CCTV cameras and clips of the same have gone viral on social media. In the CCTV footage, the NRI’s mother, wife and child were seen crying and pleading for his life.
One bullet pierced into his head bypassing the brain and other into an arm. According to doctors, his condition is stable now.
After the attack, several political parties had lashed out at the state government over the “deteriorating” law and order situation in the state.