Religious leader Sudhir Suri shot dead in public view in Punjab

A Hindu leader was shot dead in public in northern India’s Punjab on Friday. Local police said Sudhir Suri, 58, heads a Hindu Shiv Sena religious group, was shot in Amritsar. The police have started to the investigation.

A senior police officer Arun Pal Singh told news agencies that “the assailants reached the spot and shot him in full public view”, adding that the hardline leader was shot multiple times.

Police later said that Sandeep Singh, a local shopkeeper, was arrested in connection with the shooting.

Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav was quoted by the BBC as saying that “whoever is behind this and whoever has hatched the conspiracy will be exposed and those behind it will be arrested”.

In the past, Suri has been accused of being abusive and blasphemous against Sikhism and the Sikh community. Suri was protesting outside the temple premises against its management to protest the alleged insult to Hindu deities when the assailant fired at least five bullets.

Just an hour before the attack, an argument broke out with the management of the temple Gopal Mandir near Majitha Road over the alleged sacrilege of Suri’s idols. He was also live on his Facebook where he showed his followers some Hindu idols “shamelessly thrown in the garbage”.

In Live, he said: “We will not tolerate this kind of sacrilege, even if by fellow Hindus.”

The gunman was apprehended on the spot and the licensed weapon was found in his possession.

According to reports, Suri was taken to the hospital, but he succumbed to his injuries.

The attacker, a resident of the Sultanwind area of ​​Amritsar, had reached the protest site where Suri was in an SUV along with three others. While the attacker was arrested, three others fled from the spot.

Meanwhile, the authorities have requested the local people to maintain peace and not heed any communal call.