Deputy Inspector General (Ferozepur Range) Hardial Singh Mann, in an official release, said the murder was the handiwork of some gangsters. Mann said they have arrested 11 persons for their alleged role in the crime. The accused are still being questioned to ascertain their motive behind killing Balwinder, he said.
Two gangsters, who were arrested in connection with singer Sidhu Moosewala murder case and lodged in the Goindwal Sahib Central Jail in Punjab's Tarn Taran district, were killed in a clash among inmates on Sunday, police said.
Earlier, the family had refused to cremate the body unless the accused were arrested, but then agreed to conduct the last rites after an assurance was given by the Tarn Taran district administration about prompt action in the case.
The victim was a farmer apparently taking part in the protest in the district's Longowal area, where police were trying to stop protesters from blocking a national highway and a toll plaza, officials said.
Sandhu had fought against terrorism in the state for years, facing at least 16 terror attacks during height of Khalistani militancy in Punjab but had been able to repudiate them all while fighting militants along with his brother and their wives.
So far, the maximum 83 deaths have taken place in Tarn Taran district, followed by 14 in Batala and 13 in Amritsar. The tragedy has been unfolding since Wednesday evening in the three districts.
The operation took place at a time when Punjab, which shares 553 km of international border with Pakistan has been seeing a huge influx of consignments of heroin, arms and ammunition through drones and other means.
In a major crackdown on the nexus between gangsters, terrorist groups and drug smugglers based in foreign countries including Pakistan and Canada, the National Investigation Agency conducted raids at 76 locations across eight states on Tuesday and seized a large cache of arms and ammunition and cash to tune of Rs 1.5 crores.
In the first such incident reported in Punjab, drones were used to drop weapons and communication devices, among others, from across the border, an official said, adding that a half-burnt drone used in the operation was recovered from Tarn Taran.
BKU leader Rakesh Tikait said they planned to meet President Droupadi Murmu and will hold another mahapanchayat in Haryana's Kurukshetra on Friday to discuss the next steps in the agitation.
This is the third straight day that the border-guarding force has shot down a drone in Punjab.
"Five grenades and two automatic pistols have been recovered from his possession. He is being brought to the national capital and his police custody remand will be sought," police said.
The Punjab Police on Thursday arrested the second shooter involved in the killing of Shaurya Chakra awardee Balwinder Singh Sandhu last year.
Dalbir Kaur had hit the headlines when she led a vociferous campaign for the release of her brother from the Pakistan jail, where he had been lodged since 1991 after being accused of being involved in a string of bomb blasts in that country's Punjab province.
The main accused in the rocket propelled grenade attack at the Punjab police headquarters in Mohali was apprehended from Mumbai on Thursday, DGP Gaurav Yadav said.
Haryana Police have arrested a woman who allegedly harboured Amritpal Singh and his associate Papalpreet Singh at her home in Kurukshetra district, an indication that the pro-Khalistan preacher might have fled Punjab.
Amritpal Singh has been styling himself on the lines of terrorist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who was killed during Operation Blue Star in 1984, by copying his attire, mannerisms, carrying an arrow, keeping a battery of armed bodyguards and taking the shield of religion.
'I told them I am a Muslim, you are Sikh, you are Hindu, but we have one country to save.'
In Punjab, more than 9,000 people were evacuated in Patiala, Rupnagar, Moga, Ludhiana, Mohali, SBS Nagar and Fatehgarh Sahib districts, officials said on Tuesday.
New Delhi's timing couldn't have been worse, both for India's fledgling electric vehicle (EV) sector and prospective electric bike buyers. It was hard to miss the perfect storm brewing for India's EV industry since early 2022. On one hand, you had several accidents involving battery fires that unnerved consumers; on the other, uncertainty had crept in over subsidies.
The Punjab Police and the BSF have recovered a huge cache of weapons near the India-Pakistan border in the Khemkaran area of Tarn Taran district, an official said on Wednesday.
Panjwar, 63 was involved in drug and weapons smuggling and was designated as a terrorist under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in July 2020.
A day after a rocket-propelled grenade attack on the Mohali-based intelligence wing headquarters of the Punjab police, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday said "some arrests" have been made and the strictest punishment will be meted out to those trying to spoil the state's atmosphere.
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh suspended seven excise officials and six policemen, officials said.
Tinu escaped from the custody of the Crime Investigation Agency unit of the Mansa Police on Saturday night when he was brought on a production warrant from Goindwal Sahib jail in Tarn Taran district in another case.
The border guarding force has also started sensitising the residents along the border to immediately inform the police or BSF authorities if they spot anything unusual near the zero line.
The incident comes close on the heels of a Sikh preacher, Sant Ram Singh, allegedly committing suicide near the Singhu border last week as he was "unable to bear the pain of the farmers".
Hours after the macabre crime, a man wearing the blue robes of the Sikhs' Nihang order appeared before the media, claiming that he had 'punished' the victim for 'desecrating' a holy book.
The NIA on Wednesday took over the probe in the murder case of Shaurya Chakra awardee Balwinder Singh Sandhu, who was gunned down by two bike-borne men under a conspiracy by Pakistan-based Khalistani terrorists and ISI handlers, an official said.
Shiromani Akali Dal-Amritsar's Simranjit Singh Mann on Sunday won the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat after defeating his nearest rival, Aam Aadmi Party's Gurmail Singh, by a margin of 5,822 votes.
The protesting farmers huddled in small groups to discuss the repercussions of the killing. They also maintained a distance from the journalists who went to Singhu border to cover the incident.
Farmer unions protesting the Centre's three farm laws had said they would go ahead with their tractor parade in Delhi on Republic Day.
Paramilitary forces were on Tuesday deployed in four districts of Punjab as a precautionary measure even as another incident of "sacrilege" of a holy book took place at a village in Bathinda.
According to farmer union leaders, peasants from various places including Sangrur, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Bathinda districts were headed towards Singhu and Tikri borders.
Polling was held for over hundred civic bodies in Punjab on Sunday amid stray incidents of skirmishes at some places.
The Haryana Police closed the Ambala-Patiala highway after protesters gathered at the Shambhu border point with adjoining Punjab. The ruling Congress also held protests in Punjab, with the state unit chief Sunil Jakhar participating in one near the Shambhu border.
The two brothers, identified as Rupinder Singh and Jaswinder Singh, of Panjgrain village of Faridkot, were arrested in connection with the first incident of sacrilege in the state in Bargari village in Faridkot
The Punjab and Haryana high court has said a live-in relationship is morally and socially unacceptable while dismissing a petition filed by a runaway couple seeking protection.
At many places, where the voters had entered booths before 6 pm and were standing in queues, they were allowed to cast their votes.
The protests against farm laws saw a fair share of controversies as well with climate activist Greta Thunberg and pop sensation Rihanna making their way to India's prime time debates and terms such as 'toolkit' and 'andolanjeevi' entering the Indian political lexicon.
