Police have arrested five of the eight suspects, including two tainted cops of the J&K Police, for the daylight killing of Jammu-based gangster Rajesh Dogra near a shopping mall in Sector 67 on March 4.
The suspects, identified as Anil Singh (mastermind) of Samba, Harpreet Singh of Meerut, Satvir Singh of Pilibhit, Sandeep Singh of Fatehgarh and Sham Lal of Udhampur, were produced before the court and sent to police remand till March 14.
Shooters Rimpy and Sandeep, alias Raja, both from Jammu; and Manjit Singh, a native of Jind, who resides in Zirakpur, have absconded.
The police said the alleged kingpin of the shooting incident, Anil Singh, was a dismissed cop of the Jammu police and Sham Lal was under suspension.
The police have recovered three pistols, two revolvers, one gun, and 71 live rounds from them.
Four luxury vehicles, two registered in J&K, one in Chandigarh and one in Nurpur (HP), which were used in the crime, have also been impounded. All these vehicles were allegedly registered on fake addresses.
The incident was a fallout of two Jammu-based gangs’ rivalry (Billu gang and Bakra gang) with one trying to eliminate the other to gain supremacy since 2006.
The killing of Rajesh Dogra (41) in Mohali on March 4 was allegedly planned and perpetrated by Anil, who runs the Billu gang. Dogra was the head of the Bakra gang. He had come out of jail recently after serving 12-year term.
The team investigating the case said around Rs 1 crore was spent on arranging logistics, weapons and vehicles for the killing. A sum of Rs 35 lakh has been traced to various bank accounts related to Sandeep, an aide of the deceased, who passed on the information about the target’s movement to the assailants. Shooters from Jammu, Haryana and UP were roped in to make the plan foolproof this time.
The police believe the two gangs are allegedly involved in extortion in Jammu area. This was the second attempt on Dogra’s life by the assailants. The first one failed in Jammu in 2015.
“The deceased, along with his two aides, had checked in a Kharar hotel on his way to Ayodhya. Rajan, before meeting Dogra on March 4 afternoon, made him stay put for two days, giving the assailants the time to reach here and execute the murder. All suspects had gathered a day before in Mohali and conducted a recce.
“After the killing, Rajan fled along with the assailants and is still on the run. The assailants immediately abandoned their three vehicles in Mohali area and fled to Shahgarh in Pilibhit, from where they were nabbed.
“Some of the weapons used in the crime are licensed arms, while the others are modified ones. Three suspects, including one from Chandigarh, are absconding,” said Mohali SSP Sandeep Garg.
SP (Investigation) Jyoti Yadav and DSP (Special Branch) Gursher Singh Sandhu said three teams had been formed to nab the absconding suspects. An area of 3,000 km in Jammu, Delhi, UP and Nepal border was covered and the search is still on.
The police said the role two aides of Dogra, one of them Rajeev Sharma, alias Bunty, who accompanied him from Jammu, is under investigation.
Dogra was killed around 12:22 pm near the mall in Mohali. As many as 19 shells were recovered from spot.
Incident fallout of gang rivalry
The killing of Rajesh Dogra (41) in Mohali on March 4 was allegedly planned by Anil, a dismissed J&K cop, who runs the Billu gang. Dogra was the head of the Bakra gang. He had come out of jail recently after serving 12-year term.
Rs 1 cr spent on logistics, weapons, vehicles
The team investigating the case said around Rs 1 crore was spent on arranging logistics, weapons and vehicles for the killing. A sum of Rs 35 lakh has been traced to various bank accounts related to Sandeep, an aide of the deceased, who passed on the information about Dogra’s movement to the assailants.
First murder attempt failed in 2015
Shooters from Jammu, Haryana and UP were roped in to make the plan foolproof this time. This was the second attempt on Dogra’s life by the assailants. The first one failed in Jammu in 2015.
Teams formed to trace absconding aides
Three teams have been formed to nab the absconding suspects. An area of 3,000 km in Jammu, Delhi, UP and Nepal border has been covered and search is still on.
