An argument with an autorickshaw driver who managed to get a hold of his service revolver led to the killing of a Deputy Superintendent of Police in Punjab, the police have found, cracking within 48 hours what was at first a blind murder case.
According to police, on the night of December 31, Dalbir Singh Deol – a weightlifter and an Arjuna awardee posted with the Punjab Armed Police – took an auto from Jalandhar bus stand to drop him home at Khojewal village, around 14.5 km away. Midway through the journey, say police, the DSP and the driver, Jalandhar resident Vijay Kumar, got into an argument over where Deol wanted to be dropped.
According to police, Kumar, who has been living on rent in a retired police inspector’s home, managed to get his hands on Deol's Glock 9 mm service pistol and shot him.
Deol’s body was found near a canal in Jalandhar’s Basti Bawa Khel area in the early hours of January 1.
Following the murder, police launched an extensive manhunt to track the accused, using technical surveillance and scrutinising data of mobile phones that were active in the area around the time of the murder.
“The investigation eventually led to Kumar’s arrest. He had been booked around six years ago too, in a case of assault, but since the complainant did not want to pursue it further, it was quashed,” Jalandhar Commissioner of Police Swapan Sharma said.
Sharma said that Deol had taken an auto since his vehicle had met with an accident.
According to an officer, another policeman, Jugal Kishore, who was returning home from duty, spotted the DSP's body and raised an alarm. Police have also recovered the weapon used in the crime.
Deol's cousin Ranjeet Singh told The Indian Express that the family is in shock. “The entire village was proud of him. He lost his mother and sister in a road accident a while back, and his father passed away about five years ago. He is survived by his wife and two sons, aged 25 and 10. The elder son is physically challenged,” he said. “Deol was posted at Sangrur and would visit home on the weekends. On December 31, he had gone to Jalandhar to run some errands.”
(With inputs from agencies)