NIA arrests one more person in RSS leader killing

New Delhi, Dec 6 The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday arrested another person involved in the murder of RSS leader Ravinder Gosain in Ludiana. Pahar Singh, 48, was arrested from his residence in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut on charges of supplying a home-made weapon to main accused Hardeep Singh. The NIA earlier had arrested Ramandeep and Hardeep Singh in the murder of Gosain, 60, who was shot dead on October 17 near his house while returning after a morning RSS meeting. “During investigators, it revealed that Hardeep visited Meerut on three occasions during 2016 and 2017 to procure weapons to carry out the target killings of members of the RSS and other organisations,” an NIA statement said. It also said that “Hardeep, in April-May this year, procured a .315 bore country made weapon from Pahar at his residence. “This weapon was recovered and seized at the instance of Hardeep, subsequent to his arrest by Punjab Police in November.” The statement also said that Pahar Singh was accused in an arms act case registered in Uttar Pradesh’s Amroha district in September. He will be presented before a special NIA court in Mohali on Wednesday, an official said. The NIA, which took over the case from Punjab Police following a November 16 order by the Home Ministry, also carried out searches at a hotel in Meerut and seized its guest register as part of its probe in the case that is the latest in a series of murderous attacks on right-wing and religious leaders in Punjab.