The daylight murder of Sanjay Verma, a well-known cloth merchant and fashion designer popularly known as the ‘Kurta Pajama King’ of Punjab, has exposed alleged gaps in the police investigation and triggered a political storm across the state.
Sanjay Verma was shot dead on Monday at around 10 am, right outside his showroom in Abohar. According to eyewitnesses, three motorcycle-borne assailants lay in wait for him. The moment Verma stepped out of his car, they opened indiscriminate fire, killing him on the spot before fleeing the scene.
While the shooters escaped and have yet to be identified, the Punjab Police announced the arrest of two of their accomplices, Jaspreet Singh and Ram Rattan, both residents of Patiala district, for helping the shooters escape in the car. However, within hours, both men were killed in a police encounter.
This development has added fuel to the controversy.
BJP General Secretary Manjinder Singh Sirsa accused the Punjab government of mishandling the law and order situation. On his visit to Chandigarh Wednesday, Sirsa said, “First of all, the Punjab government is not able to control the law and order and criminals… Punjab has become a police state. If Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has a clean image, he should get a CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) inquiry conducted into these encounters so the truth comes out.”
Reacting sharply, AAP’s Punjab state president Aman Arora called the BJP’s stance “extremely shameful,” accusing it of siding with gangsters instead of supporting Verma’s bereaved family. Arora said, “While the entire Punjab stands with the family of Shri Sanjay Verma, Manjinder Singh Sirsa’s open support for gangsters today proves that the BJP is backing criminals even through central jails.”
After meeting the family of Sanjay Verma on Monday, Arora had stated that gangsters lodged in jails outside Punjab were behind such heinous criminal activities.
Whereas, Union Minister of State Ravneet Singh Bittu held the Mann government responsible for the ‘growing fear and lawlessness’ across Punjab. “Instead of owning up to their failure, AAP leaders are shamelessly pointing fingers at the Centre. This is not governance –it’s a complete abdication of duty,” he added.
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Bittu called Arora’s remarks “irresponsible” and “highly condemnable,” accusing him of trying to deflect attention from the AAP government’s failure to maintain law and order in the state.
In a statement released on Monday, Bittu announced that he would write to the Governor of Punjab, urging him to take cognisance of Arora’s “baseless allegations”. He also sought written clarifications from Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav and Chief Secretary KAP Sinha, questioning whether Arora’s statement reflected the official position of the Bhagwant Mann-led government.
“Aman Arora’s claim that gangster Lawrence Bishnoi is safe in Gujarat under the Centre’s protection is nothing but an excuse to hide the AAP government’s incompetence. These kinds of inflammatory and misleading remarks are both dangerous and unacceptable,” said Bittu.
He reaffirmed that the central government has always taken a tough stance against terrorism and organised crime. “We conducted surgical strikes inside Pakistan when needed. Do you think gangsters are beyond our reach? Once the BJP forms government in Punjab, we’ll show what decisive action really looks like,” Bittu said.
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Pointing to the killing of Sanjay Verma, Bittu accused the Punjab government of completely surrendering to the gangster nexus. “Extortion threats and targeted killings have become the new normal for Punjab’s business community,” he said.
Adding to the political slugfest, AAP’s Abohar constituency in-charge Arun Narang displayed a photo showing Abohar MLA Sandeep Jakhar with Shakti, a bike driver allegedly linked to the murder. Sandeep Jakhar, who is a suspended Congress MLA and nephew of Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar, clarified that the picture was from the 2022 assembly election campaign. “Many people get pictures taken with us during campaigns. It’s illogical to link that picture to this crime,” he said.
‘We have full trust’
Jagat Verma, elder brother of Sanjay Verma, has expressed satisfaction over the police probe.
In a video, Jagat Verma said, “We have full trust in the Punjab Police and we are satisfied with the ongoing police investigation. We humbly appeal to one and all to please stop doing politics over this issue. We appeal to the police to nab the rest of the culprits soon… We trust that we will get justice soon.”
State of probe
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The police said their investigations have revealed that the getaway bike was driven by one Shakti, a daily wager from Azimgarh village of Abohar.
While escaping, the attackers lost control of their bike and forcibly snatched another two-wheeler. They later abandoned it on Seeto Road and allegedly fled in a waiting Swift car, driven by Jaspreet Singh and Ram Rattan.
Jaspreet Singh’s family has denied any involvement, alleging that he was picked up from his house in Mardankheri village of Patiala during the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, and that they later received news of his death. They maintain that Jaspreet was a daily wager with no criminal background.
The police said Jaspreet had a criminal background, and released a few pictures of him brandishing weapons. The details of his criminal record haven’t been revealed as of now.
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At the time of filing this report, the postmortem examination of Jaspreet and Ram was underway at the Abohar Civil Hospital under strict police cover.
Meanwhile, gangster Aarzoo Bishnoi had claimed responsibility for the murder on social media, tagging Canada-based gangster Goldy Brar and Maharashtra’s Shivam Lonker hours after the murder. After the alleged encounter, Bishnoi again posted that the real shooters remained at large, and that Jaspreet Singh and Ram Rattan had no role in the killing. The Punjab unit of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has identified the Lawrence Bishnoi gang as the perpetrators behind this crime.
The police, however, have not confirmed these claims nor provided clarity on the identities of the actual shooters.
