Punjab Police arrest 3 for murder of Suresh Raina's relatives, case solved

The Punjab Police solved the murder of the uncle and cousin of Indian cricketer Suresh Raina. Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh said on Wednesday that three alleged members of an interstate gang had been arrested in the case. Chennai Super King star batsman Suresh Raina's uncle Ashok Kumar and cousin Kaushal Kumar were murdered by the robbers when they were returning home from Pathankot on 20 August. After this incident, Raina's aunt Asha Rani was admitted to a hospital in critical condition. Raina had to come back from IPL 2020 held in UAE. 

Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta said the accused are part of an interstate gang of bandits and added that 11 other members of the case are yet to be arrested. CM Amarinder Singh said that after this incident a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed. The SIT had registered a case under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and started investigating the case.

According to the DGP, a gold ring, a women's ring, a women's gold chain, Rs 1,530 and two wooden poles have been recovered from the arrested accused. They have identified the arrested accused as Sawan, Muhabbat, and Shah Rukh Khan.

The Punjab government has issued an official statement saying that on September 15, the SIT received information that three suspects, who were spotted on Defense Road the morning after the incident, were living in slums near Pathankot railway station. A raid was conducted and all three were arrested.

Police said that preliminary investigation revealed that they were working with others as a gang and had earlier committed many such crimes in various parts of Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Punjab. Police alleged that the accused came from Jagraon to Pathankot, where they had committed a robbery on the night of 14 August. The DGP said that Sanju who knew the area well in Pathankot was also involved in the gang to carry out the August 14 incident.

The statement further said that the accused had already identified a shuttering shop where the bamboo ladder was tied with chains. The first two houses where he had erected a ladder were a warehouse and an empty house, while the third belonged to Ashok Kumar who was Suresh Raina's uncle. 

The five accused entered the house using a ladder from the roof, where they saw three people lying down. The suspects hit him on the head before entering the house, after which they escaped from the house with a gold face and jewelry. The accused also opened fire while crossing high tension electric wires and they split from all the different groups and fled.