Key shooter, one other held in firing incident at liquor baron's house in Chandigarh

Initial investigations had revealed that Nahar was a close associate of Bobby Malhotra, a gangster currently lodged in Ferozepur Jail, and further associated with the Lawrance Bishnoi group, which had allegedly ordered the attack at the Sector 33 house of Arvind Singla on May 31, he said. The arrested accused have disclosed that Bishnoi had tasked them to carry out such incidents in Punjab, Chandigarh and Rajasthan.

The key shooter allegedly involved in the firing at liquor baron Arvind Singla's residence here on last month has been arrested, police said on Friday. Nitin Nahar, a resident of Indra Colony in Amritsar, was apprehended from near Colour Resorts, Attari Road, Amritsar, along with his associate Bikramjit Singh, who had provided him with a safe hideout, a Punjab police spokesperson said.

The arrests came during an Intelligence-led operation by a joint team of Amritsar (Rural) Police and Organized Crime Control Unit (OCCU), he said in a statement. Initial investigations had revealed that Nahar was a close associate of Bobby Malhotra, a gangster currently lodged in Ferozepur Jail, and further associated with the Lawrance Bishnoi group, which had allegedly ordered the attack at the Sector 33 house of Arvind Singla on May 31, he said.

The arrested accused have disclosed that Bishnoi had tasked them to carry out such incidents in Punjab, Chandigarh and Rajasthan. "One .32 calibre pistol, along with 40 live cartridges, one .315 calibre pistol with 10 live cartridges, used in the crime, were recovered from Nahar's possession. Nitin was already wanted in three other firing incidents of Amritsar, including at his rival group members, Vipin Kumar (in January 2020) and Love Kumar (in February 2020)..," he said.

Nahar revealed that Malhotra had directed him to carry out the attack on May 31 and a car was sent by Bishnoi to pick him up from Ludhiana and drop him on the outskirts of Chandigarh. The other accused took him to Sector 33 in the car. They went fired at the house of the businessman. The key shooter, Nahar, had used a .32 bore pistol in the firing, according to the spokesperson.

After the shooting incident, the other accused dropped off Nahar at Kharar in Punjab on the outskirts of Chandigarh. On the directions of Malhotra, Nahar was dropped at the Amritsar hideout in a white SUV. A case at Gharinda Police Station in Amritsar Rural district has been registered against them, and further investigations are in progress, the spokesperson said.