Chandigarh: An unidentified man barged into the house of a local Congress leader in Punjab’s Moga district on Monday and shot him dead, police said.
A CCTV footage, purported to be of the incident, shows the assailant firing at Baljinder Singh Balli (45) before fleeing. The incident happened at Balli’s Dalla village.
Balli was taken to a hospital where he succumbed to injuries, said police.
The police said the investigation was underway.
Balli was the party’s president from Ajitwal block in district Moga.
Senior Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa and Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring strongly condemned the incident.
“In a harrowing incident, the Congress president from Ajitwal block of district Moga, Baljinder Singh Balli (45) was shot dead at his residence today. I condemn this incident in the strongest possible terms. My heart goes out to the family of the victim,” Bajwa wrote on X.
“Ever since @AAPPunjab formed the government in Punjab, the law and order situation has collapsed completely. Gun crime in the state has been on the rise. CM @BhagwantMann, who also holds the home portfolio is directly responsible for the deteriorating law and order situation in the state. @AAPPunjab govt must swing to action and arrest the culprits. Otherwise, Punjab Congress will launch a strugge,” added Bajwa.
Canada based gangster claims responsibility
Fugitive gangster Arshdeep Singh Gill aka Arsh Dalla believed to be hiding in Canada, claimed responsibility for the killing on a Facebook post purportedly belonging to him.
In the post, he blamed Balli for ‘introducing him to the world of crime’ and for ‘harassing his mother’.
The post on Facebook originally written in Punjabi loosely said: “I am responsible for the murder of Balli in Dala village because it was my own village’s politics which had made me tread this path. This man (Balli) was responsible for keeping my mother in CIA (police) custody for a week and he also got my friends arrested. He was hand in glove with police… and got my home vandalised. He destroyed my home just to gain his own afsar shaahi… My life’s aim was not to live my own life but to kill him. If we wished, we would have killed his child too but that child was nowhere at fault…. those who are sympathising with him, their homes are also not far for us..,” a report by The Indian Express said.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) early this year had declared Dala a ‘designated terrorist’ after it found his involvement in heinous crimes such as murder, extortion, and targeted killings, besides terror activities.
(With excerpts from PTI)
