The Solan police in Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday announced the arrest of three men for the murder of Punjab-based gangster-turned-politician Jaswinder Singh ‘Rocky’. However, the police refused to share further details on the arrest of the Punjab trio, identified as Amarinder Singh and Devender Singh, both 25, of Nagri in Patiala district, and Bhupender Singh, 29, of Faridkhera in Muktsar district.
Rocky, who belonged to Fazilka district of Punjab, was shot dead by two men near Parwanoo on the Shimla-Chandigarh highway on April 30 morning when he was going back after a vacation in Solan. Additional director general of police (ADGP), law and order, Sanjay Kundu said analysis of mobile location and call details revealed that the arrested men were present near the house where Rocky had been staying on April 29. They followed and tracked Rocky before he was killed, said Kundu. Police also found images of Rocky’s body from the hospital in Parwanoo in their mobile phones, besides images of the blood-stained vehicle.
“For certain reasons, we cannot share details of their arrest with the media. But certainly there is enough evidence against the three; their role in the killing can be assessed exactly only after investigation,” he said, adding that the HP police were seeking input from Punjab Police too. The three men were produced before the additional chief judicial magistrate, Kasauli, who sent them to a week of police remand for interrogation.
Primarily, the police suspected rival gangster Jaipal for the killing.
Rocky had been shot multiple times by two men, who had tailed him in a car, when his white Toyota Fortuner SUV stopped at a traffic signal near the tourist spot Timber Trail, close to a road bifurcation. While the killers escaped in their car, two men on a motorbike picked up the empty cartridges to remove evidence before fleeing.
Police had said that the assailants overtook Rocky’s car in their Mahindra Xylo SUV and took positions near the signal, firing at least seven shots from automatic guns. Rocky, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, suffered shots in his head, neck and chest, while his driver Parampal Singh suffered injuries in the neck. Rocky’s cousin Harmeet Singh was in the backseat and escaped without injury.
