Despite having more than a dozen police officers surrounding him, Sudhir Suri, a leader of the right-wing Hindutva movement in Punjab, was shot and killed this afternoon on a major street in Amritsar. The attack was caught on camera.
In a demonstration against the management of a temple, Mr. Suri, the leader of a local group going by the name Shiv Sena Taksali, was shot at least five times with a pistol, purportedly by a nearby shopkeeper.
Even though Mr. Suri was under the protection of 12 police officers and had local police officers stationed nearby, the attacker, Sandeep Singh, who has since been apprehended, was able to kill him with at least two rounds before he could be taken to the hospital. The weapon has been taken, and more research is being done.
According to sources, the attacker arrived at the scene in an SUV with three other people, but they managed to flee.
Mr. Suri, who didn’t participate in the election, was most known for his venomous and allegedly racist social media video remarks directed against some Sikh organizations and Khalistan supporters in particular. Police have not yet made a connection.
The police commissioner urged the populace to maintain their composure and resist any cries from the crowd. Residents of the Sikh holy city were exchanging tense messages and conspiracies, according to local reports.
Earlier today, Mr. Suri got into a fight over alleged idol sacrilege with several guys from the administration of Gopal Mandir along Majitha Road, one of the busiest areas in the city. Just an hour prior to the crime, he was broadcasting live on Facebook and displayed several older idols being brazenly discarded in the trash.
He was shot while on a street dharna, sitting next to a friend who was spotted retaliating against the assailant with a handgun.
The murder came shortly after the May murder of singer Sidhu Moosewala, another notable figure who had police protection, raising doubts about Bhagwant Mann’s Aam Aadmi Party government, which was established in March.
The murder of Sudhi Suri also brought to mind a string of assassinations of right-wing or religious figures, most of them belonging to Hinduva organizations, in 2016 and 2017 when the Akali Dal-BJP and the Congress held alternate periods of power.
Assassinating 60-year-old RSS leader Ravinder Gosain in October 2017 marked the ninth such occurrence to occur in the state in roughly a year. In June 2017, a series of shootings claimed the lives of several people, including the Christian pastor Sultan Masih, supporters of Dera Sacha Sauda in Ludhiana, the head of an organization named “Hindu Takhat” in Ludhiana, and RSS leader Brigadier Jagdish Gagneja (Retd) in Jalandhar.
Numerous Hindutva organizations in Punjab go by the moniker “Shiv Sena,” although they are not affiliated with the Bal Thackeray-founded party with headquarters in Maharashtra.
Numerous of these leaders have received security protection from state police due to a history of attacks on them. Additionally, there have been instances where police have detained some of them for fabricating attacks on themselves to obtain security.
Sudhir Suri, president of the Shiv Sena Taksali, was accused of using hate speech five times.
News Mania Desk
