AAP sarpanch shot dead while dancing with kin on stage at wedding in Punjab; 2nd killing in 6 weeks

TARN TARAN: An Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) village sarpanch was shot dead on Wednesday during a wedding ceremony in front of family members and guests in Punjab's Tarn Taran district.

Harbinger Singh of Thattian Mahanta village was dancing on the stage with relatives at Sidhu Farm in Sarhali when three gunmen entered and fired four rounds around 2.30pm. Singh, a father of two sons aged 8 and 11, was struck on in the head and head.


His cousin, Germanjit Singh, who attempted to chase the assailants during the chaos, suffered bullet injuries and was rushed to a hospital in Amritsar for treatment.

The murder evokes chilling memories of the Jan 4 killing of Valtoha sarpanch Jarmal Singh in Amritsar. The AAP member was targeted at a wedding by two men who walked through the crowd and shot him at point-blank range. Police had cracked his murder case with the arrest of seven people and cited personal enmity as the motive.

In Wednesday's killing too, police suspect old enmity.

Senior superintendent of police Surendera Lamba said preliminary investigations indicated that Harbinger Singh received no extortion threats, ransom calls, or intimidation in the recent past.

"This appears to be an old rivalry," he said, emphasising that police were probing every possible angle. Forensic teams recovered evidence suggesting the use of 9 mm weapons in the attack, he added.

The incident comes at a time when the Punjab govt has launched the second phase of its crackdown on organised crime and gangsters.