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 digital camera 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 outdoors a temple towards its administration when at the least 5 photographs had been fired from a pistol, allegedly by a neighborhood shopkeeper.

Mr Suri had police safety of 12 males, and there have been native cops deployed on the spot, but the attacker — Sandeep Singh, who has been arrested — was profitable in touchdown at the least two photographs that killed him earlier than he may very well be dropped at a hospital. “The weapon has been seized and further investigation is on,” mentioned metropolis police chief commissioner, Arun Pal Singh, who didn’t give extra particulars on the motive of the attacker.

Sources mentioned the attacker had come to the place with three others in an SUV however they escaped.

Mr Suri, who wasn’t an electoral participant, was principally recognized for his fiery — and allegedly communal — video messages on social media concentrating 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, mentioned native sources.

Earlier at the moment, 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 reside on Facebook barely an hour earlier than the assault, exhibiting some older idols “shamelessly dumped in garbage”. “We will not tolerate such sacrilege, even if by fellow Hindus,” he mentioned 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 distinguished 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.”

Sudhi Suri’s homicide additionally brings again recollections of a collection 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 completely different instances.

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

In Punjab, various Hindutva outfits use the title ‘Shiv Sena’, however do not formally have something to do with the Maharashtra-based get together 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. There have additionally been circumstances when police booked a few of them for staging assaults on themselves to get safety cowl.

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