Amritsar:

Sudhir Suri, a Hindutva proper wing chief in Punjab, was shot lifeless on a busy avenue in Amritsar this afternoon in an assault that was caught on digicam whereas there have been over a dozen cops round him.

Leader of a neighborhood outfit that makes use of the title Shiv Sena Taksali, Mr Suri was holding protest exterior a temple towards its administration when no less than 5 pictures had been fired from a pistol, allegedly by a neighborhood shopkeeper.

Due to threats from gangsters and Khalistani extremists, Mr Suri had police safety, but the attacker — Sandeep Singh, who has been arrested — was profitable in touchdown no less than two pictures that killed him earlier than he might be dropped at a hospital. There had been additionally native cops deployed on the spot.

“The accused was arrested immediately and weapon seized. Further investigation is on,” stated metropolis police commissioner, Arun Pal Singh, who didn’t give extra particulars.

Sudhir Suri with supporters simply earlier than he was shot in a locality close to Majitha Road, Amritsar

Sources stated the attacker, a resident of Sultanwind space of the town, had come to the place with three others in an SUV however they escaped.

Mr Suri, who wasn’t an electoral participant, was largely recognized for his fiery — and allegedly communal — video messages on social media focusing on some Sikh outfits and Khalistan supporters particularly. Police didn’t draw a connection as but.

The police commissioner appealed to the individuals to maintain calm and never give in to any communal calls. Tense messages and conspiracy theories had been going round amongst residents of the Sikh holy metropolis, stated native sources.

Earlier as we speak, Mr Suri had obtained into an argument with some males from the administration of Gopal Mandir close to Majitha Road — one of many busiest locations within the metropolis — over alleged sacrilege of idols. He was stay on Facebook barely an hour earlier than the assault, displaying some older idols “shamelessly dumped in garbage”. “We will not tolerate such sacrilege, even if by fellow Hindus,” he stated in that video.

When he was shot, he was on a dharna on the road, sitting subsequent to an affiliate who was seen firing again on the attacker from a revolver.

The killing comes simply months after the homicide, in May, of one other outstanding particular person with police safety — singer Sidhu Moosewala — elevating questions on Bhagwant Mann’s Aam Aadmi Party authorities that was fashioned in March.

Punjab BJP chief Ashwani Sharma was among the many first leaders to react: “The law and order situation has completely broken down in the state.”

State Congress chief Amarinder Singh ‘Raja’ Warring tweeted: “Law and order is deteriorating and going from bad to worse. Congress condemns murderous attack on Shiv Sena leader in Amritsar. Political differences apart, violence is unacceptable. Culprits must be brought to book.”

Shiv Sena Taksali president Sudhir Suri had 5 hate speech instances towards him.

Sudhi Suri’s homicide additionally brings again reminiscences of a sequence of killings of right-wing or spiritual leaders, most of them from Hinduva outfits, in 2016 and 2017, when the Akali Dal-BJP and the Congress had been in energy at totally different occasions.

In October 2017, Ludhiana RSS chief Ravinder Gosain, 60, was shot lifeless within the the eighth such incident within the state in a few 12 months’s time. In June 2017, Christian pastor Sultan Masih was shot lifeless, whereas others killed in that sequence of assaults had been Dera Sacha Sauda followers in Ludhiana, a pacesetter of an organisation known as ‘Hindu Takhat’, additionally in Ludhiana, and RSS chief Brigadier Jagdish Gagneja (Retd) in Jalandhar.

In Punjab, quite a few Hindutva outfits use the title ‘Shiv Sena’, however do not formally have something to do with the Maharashtra-based social gathering based by Bal Thackeray. State police have been giving safety cowl to many of those leaders as there is a historical past of assaults on them. .