Punjab: 2 held in village sarpanch murder case in Hoshiarpur

Two men have been arrested in connection with the killing of a village "sarpanch" in Punjab's Hoshiarpur district, police said on Wednesday.

Sandeep Singh Cheena, the "sarpanch" (village head) of Dadiana Kalan, was shot dead by three motorcycle-borne assailants while he was standing outside his cement block and interlocking tiles factory at Dosarka Adda on January 4.

The arrested accused were identified as Anoop Kumar alias Vicky and Manpreet Singh alias Manish, police said.

Hoshiarpur Superintendent of Police (Investigation) Sarbjit Singh Bahia said a police team raided a canal track near Dholbaha village on Tuesday evening after receiving inputs about Kumar's presence in the area.

When police asked him to surrender, Kumar fired two to three shots at the men in uniform. In the retaliatory fire by police, the accused sustained two bullet injuries.

He was admitted to a local government hospital from where he was referred to another hospital in Amritsar, police said.

Another man allegedly involved in the killing of Cheena, Manpreet Singh of Kamalpur Mothanwala (Kapurthala), was arrested on Wednesday morning.

One more accused, Rohit Kumar alias Suraj of Sherpur Gulind village, was apprehended by police on January 5.

The reason behind Cheena's killing is yet to be ascertained, Bahia said.