Punjab AGTF cracks Jodhpur man’s murder, arrests 3 weapon suppliers

Mohali: In a significant breakthrough, Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) of Punjab, in a joint operation with Mohali Police, has cracked the sensational daylight murder of Subhash Bishnoi alias Sohu at Sangaria in Jodhpur on Oct 8.
Bishnoi was brutally shot five times in the head by two unidentified men. Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said on Monday that the arrested Rajasthan-based weapon suppliers turned out to be the murderers of Bishnoi.
"The revelations came following meticulous investigations and sustained follow-up of backward and forward linkages in the arrest of three Rajasthan-based weapon suppliers identified as Bhanu Sisodia, Mohammad Asif and Anil Kumar, all residents of Balotra district in Rajasthan," said Yadav.
The three weapon suppliers were arrested by the teams of AGTF and SAS Nagar (Mohali) Police on Friday along with another accused, Navjot Singh alias Jota, while they attempted the delivery of a consignment of weapons containing two pistols and eight live cartridges in Dera Bassi.
Navjot alias Jota is a key operative of foreign-based handlers Pavitar USA and Manjinder France and has been facing over 21 cases of heinous crimes, said police.
DGP Gaurav Yadav said that all the four arrested accused are currently in police remand at Dera Bassi police station, and the investigation is progressing swiftly. He said that the murder mastermind, Bhanu Sisodia, has confessed to planning the murder of Subhash Bishnoi as an act of revenge for the killing of his associate, Anil Lega, in Feb 2024. The two other accused, Mohammad Asif and Anil Kumar, played pivotal roles as handlers in executing the murder, added the DGP.
Yadav said that further investigations are going on in this case and that more revelations are expected in the coming days.
Sharing more details on the preliminary investigations, SAS Nagar SSP Deepak Pareek said that the Rajasthan-based trio have revealed that they had struck a deal with Navjot Singh Jota for either Rs 1 lakh or a safe hideout for them in Punjab in exchange for the weapons used in the crime. These weapons were procured from Madhya Pradesh by them, he added.
Pareek further said that the role of a few more persons in carrying out this murder is coming to the fore. Coordination with Rajasthan Police is underway to arrest the remaining accused involved in this case, he added.
A case—FIR No. 313—has been registered under Sections 25(6) and 25(7) of the Arms Act at Dera Bassi police station, said officials.
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Oct 8 murder was in retaliation of a mysterious death in Sept
Subhash Bishnoi, 19, a resident of Kheri Salwa village, was shot dead at point blank range by two men near Sangaria Phatak under Basni police station area of Jodhpur on Oct 8. The incident appeared to be a revenge attack for a murder that occurred nine months ago
The murder was captured on video, showing Subhash Bishnoi standing on a road with his motorcycle when the two attackers approach him and fire from their guns.
Rajasthan Police confirmed that an ongoing feud between the families of Thanaram and Chaturaram, which dates back to 1970, claimed four lives, including that of Subhash Bishnoi
Police suspected the shooting was in retaliation for the mysterious death of Subhash Sahu, also known as Pepsi. Sahu's family members had repeatedly expressed doubts about his death and claimed that police did not pay attention to their suspicions that some individuals had orchestrated the murder of the former police informer
The family members claimed that they had learned through police station sources that cyanide was given to Sahu through water by a sadhu (sage), but it remains unclear why police were unwilling to register a case of murder
Sahu had died under unexplained circumstances in Sept after consuming a so-called sacred potion offered to him by the sadhu, who has been untraceable since the incident