NIA takes charge of Punj Hindu leaders case

New Delhi: Suspecting a common link in attacks on Hindu leaders in Punjab in the last few months by Khalistani terror groups, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken charge of investigations in six such cases. Before this the cases were being probed by the Punjab Police.

The first case is related to firing by unidentified assailants on a shakha of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Ludhiana on January 19 last year. Tow assailants riding a motorcycle had fired a single shot during an early morning shakha though no one was reported to be injured. The second case is also related to Ludhiana where youth wing chief of the Shiv Sena, Amit Arora, was shot at in February this year. Mr Arora, 35, was fired upon again by two assailants on a motorcycle while he was waiting in his car in Ludhiana’s Basti Jodhewal Chowk area. He however, survived the attack after being rushed to the hospital.

The third case is also linked to attack on a Shiv Sena leader, Durga Dass Gupta in Punjab’s Khanna town in April last year.

Two other cases which the NIA has taken over are related to the murder of Amit Sharma, who was the publicity manager of Sri Hindu Takht and two supporters of religious sect Dera Sacha Sauda. While Amit Sharma was killed in Ludhiana on January 17 this year.