A team of the Crime Investigation Agency arrested three accused of killing district Shiv Sena leader Mangat Rai Manga after a brief encounter near Malot bus stand in Punjab’s Moga on Saturday, officials said.
The encounter and the subsequent arrests came just a day after the three accused had posted a video on Instagram confessing to their crime.
The trio have been identified as Arun alias Deepa, Arun alias Singhavasi, and Rajveer alias Laddu, all residents of Moga.
After receiving a tip-off about their movement, the Moga CIA team rounded them up near the Malot bus stand. Seeing this, the three accused opened fire at police and an encounter ensued.
While two of the three assailants were injured during the encounter, the third one tried to escape, but the police caught him. Both the injured were admitted to Malot Civil Hospital for treatment. A 32 bore pistol, a 30 bore pistol and the motorcycle used in the crime were also recovered from them.
Notably, four police cases against Arun alias Deepa, seven cases against Singha, and two cases against Rajveer have previously been filed.
The Shiv Sena leader was shot dead late on Thursday night, March 13, while a boy was also injured in the attack. “The deceased, Mangat Rai alias Manga, was the Moga district president of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena,” a police official said.
The incident occurred when Manga (52), who had stepped out of the house to buy groceries, was attacked by three unknown persons at around 10 pm.
The bullet initially missed Manga and hit a 12-year-old boy who was passing through the area, he said. Manga then immediately fled the area on a two-wheeler, but the assailants chased him.
In their confession video, the trio claimed that Manga used to threaten them and their family with consequences if they did not pay him money as he demanded. “He would often threaten to kidnap our family members if his demands were not met. We did not want to kill him but we had no option,” they said.
The police are interrogating the arrested accused and have launched a further investigation into the case.
