Punjab Sarpanch Shot Dead at Gym, Third Village Head Killed Since January
Daylight attack leaves village head dead; police suspect personal rivalry while kin allege political threat
Bathinda: A village sarpanch was shot dead in a broad daylight attack at his private gym in Baghapurana town of Moga district on Friday, police said.
Harwinder Singh, popularly known as Happy, 37, the sarpanch of Patto Hira Singh village, was attacked when he arrived at his fitness centre, Sujan Fitness Club, located on the Baghapurana–Kotkapura road.
Eyewitnesses said Singh had just stepped out of his Mahindra Thar around 11 am when three to four unidentified men approached in a Toyota Fortuner and opened fire. The assailants fled the scene immediately after the shooting. Singh was taken to the civil hospital in Baghapurana, where doctors declared him dead.
Moga Senior Superintendent of Police Ajay Gandhi said preliminary findings suggest the killing stemmed from a personal rivalry. Police have identified suspects and formed multiple teams to track them down.
Investigators also noted that Singh was facing several criminal cases. Sources indicated he had been receiving threats for some time and had recently arranged for a bulletproof vehicle, though he was not using it at the time of the attack. Singh had been serving as sarpanch after winning the election as an independent candidate in September 2024.
The incident took a political turn after family members accused Baghapurana legislator Amritpal Singh Sukhanand of threatening the victim. Relatives alleged that the MLA had warned Singh against interfering in a marital dispute involving a local woman. They refused to permit the post-mortem examination until the MLA’s name is included in the FIR.
Sukhanand denied the accusations, stating that he had only tried to mediate a domestic dispute between the couple involved. He said previous disagreements and police complaints had already been recorded in connection with the matter and challenged anyone making allegations to produce evidence.
Police have registered a murder case at the Baghapurana police station and launched a manhunt to trace the attackers.
The killing marks the third such incident involving village heads in Punjab this year. In February, AAP sarpanch Harbarinder Singh was shot dead during a wedding function in Tarn Taran. Earlier in January, another sarpanch, Jarmal Singh, was killed at a resort in Amritsar during a marriage ceremony.
