2019 firing at NRI’s house: Bhagwanpuria, Gujjar’s names added to FIR

Jalandhar Gangster Jaggu Bhagwanpuria and his close aide Binny Gujjar, who are lodged in Patiala Central Jail, have been booked for hatching a conspiracy to open fire at the house of an NRI from New Zealand in June 2019.

NRI Gurwinder Singh Bains was visiting his native village, Manak Dheri in Hoshiarpur district, when the attack occurred. The FIR registered at that time didn’t have any name and Bhagwanpuria and Gujjar’s names cropped up during the interrogation of their aides Shahbaz Singh and Paras Sharma, who were arrested recently.

Bhagwanpuria, Gujjar along with their Haryana-based weapon supplier Parminder Singh have been booked under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) in an attempt-to-murder case registered by Bullowal police on June 27, 2019.

Hoshiarpur senior superintendent of Police (SSP) Gaurav Garg said, “Binny Gujjar used his aides to attack the house of the NRI. The extent of Bhagwanpuria’s role in the case is under investigation.”

Shahbaz, as per senior police officials, confessed before police that he had fired eight times at Bains’s house allegedly after receiving directions from the gangsters on WhatsApp. He stated that he purchased a pistol and cartridges from Parminder Singh for the job.

“Two NRI brothers Kamal Singh and Manjot Singh settled in New Zealand were running a Kabaddi club and they were not happy with Bains as he came up with a parallel club. The brothers approached the gangsters to teach Bains a lesson. Kamal and Manjot have close relations with Bhagwanpuria through latter’s brother Manu,” said a senior police officer who is part of the investigation team. Bhagwanpuria also has stakes in Kabaddi tournaments organised on foreign shores.

This is the second back-to-back case in Hoshiarpur district where Gujjar’s name has cropped up in firing. A few days back, Gujjar was booked by Hoshiarpur police for opening fire at a wine contractor’s house in the district for refusing to pay ₹60 lakh.