Twenty-four hours after property dealer Charanpreet Singh was executed in broad daylight outside a Sector 9 gym, Chandigarh Police remain empty-handed despite tracing the shooters’ escape route into neighbouring Mohali.
While the investigation has successfully mapped the assailants’ escape route using a grid of CCTV cameras, the two helmeted men who fired the fatal shots at the 31-year-old on Wednesday afternoon remain at large.
Charanpreet, a resident of Kubaheri Khurd in Mullanpur, was intercepted at 12.15pm on the Madhya Marg slip road just as he entered his SUV after a workout at the gym.
Meticulous planning, abandoned leads
The shooters used internal arteries and slip roads to bypass major police checkpoints, the police said.
Investigators confirmed that after fleeing Sector 9, the duo was captured on camera crossing the Attawa Chowk in Sector 42 at 12.33pm, less than 20 minutes after the murder.
The motorcycle used in the crime was later recovered abandoned in Mohali, sporting a counterfeit registration plate, a sure sign of a premeditated hit.
Forensic teams are currently examining the vehicle for DNA evidence, though sources suggest the killers likely switched vehicles.
Gang retaliation, local turf wars
The investigation has shifted toward a gang-related vendetta following a social media claim by the Lucky Patial-led gang, an affiliate of the Davinder Bambiha syndicate.
The post alleged that Charanpreet, who faces multiple FIRs for alleged links to criminal elements and drug trade, was acting as an informer for rival groups and accused him of involvement in the murder of Gurvinder Singh in Mohali on January 28. Gurvinder was shot dead outside the Mohali judicial complex, a high-security zone. While the Goldy Brar gang originally claimed responsibility for Gurvinder’s death, alleging his involvement in the 2020 murder of Brar’s cousin, the Bambiha-aligned Patial group now asserts that Charanpreet acted as an informer during that conflict.
