RSS leader murder: Punjab to hand over probe to NIA

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday issued orders to hand over probe into the killing of RSS leader Ravinder Gosai to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), officials said.

The Chief Minister, who met a delegation of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leaders here on Thursday, announced compensation of Rs 5 lakh for Gosai's family and a government job for one of his four children.

The decision to hand over the probe to the NIA was taken in view of reports that the alleged handlers of the assailants were operating from foreign soil, a Punjab government spokesperson said.

Amarinder said that his government would not tolerate lawlessness, especially targeted killings. He said that efforts were being made to solve earlier cases also.

Gosai, 58, was near his house when he was attacked on Tuesday morning. He was the Sangh Pracharak (regional missionary) at the RSS Mohan Shakha in Ludhiana.

He was shot from close range by two motorcycle-borne assailants in Kailash Nagar area. Later, he succumbed to his injuries in a hospital.

Punjab Police have failed to nab those behind the killings of leaders of Hindu organisations in Punjab in recent years.

Senior Punjab RSS leader Brigadier Jagdish Gagneja (retd) was shot by unidentified motorcycle-borne youths in a busy area in Jalandhar on August 6, 2016.

Gagneja was critically injured and succumbed to his injuries a month later. His assailants continue to be at large.

Leaders of Hindu organisations have been attacked and killed in some other incidents in Gurdaspur and Khanna towns earlier.

In two separate incidents, unidentified persons fired shots at RSS activists in Ludhiana in January and February last year.

--IANS

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