Two brothers kill father’s convicted murderer in Palwal village shootout

The two brothers allegedly disclosed their plan beforehand, sold land for weapons, and targeted the victim after a spat three days before the killing.

Two brothers allegedly gunned down their father’s killer in Kashipur village under Sadar area of Palwal on Monday, nearly 20 years after the murder, police said on Tuesday.

Locals said the accused were taunted as cowards for years; armed police have now been deployed and four teams are raiding UP and Rajasthan hideouts. (Shutterstock)

The siblings, identified by police as, Dipanshu, 23, and Tushar, 21, allegedly carried out the killing after being taunted by peers as cowards for not avenging their father’s death, according to officers aware of the case.

The victim, Bijender Singh, 60, was returning home from his fields when he was shot dead. Investigators said he sustained six bullet injuries, with two bullets fired on his genitalia. Sadar Palwal deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Narender Khatana said the attack followed a verbal spat between the accused and Singh three days earlier.

“Bijender had made an adverse comment that they can’t even touch him. This became the tipping point following which the duo and along with 16 other associates first shot dead Bijender near his field and then shot his son Sachin after reaching his home. However, he managed to survive,” said DSP Khatana.

Police said Singh was sentenced to life imprisonment with two others by a Palwal court in 2011 for killing Pappu Singh, father of Dipanshu and Tushar, during clashes in the 2005 panchayat elections. He was currently out on bail granted by the Punjab and Haryana high court in2018, before which he had challenged his sentence.

Inspector Krishan Gopal, station house officer of Camp police station, said that Tushar was barely one and a half months old and Dipanshu around three years old when their father was murdered. “Their mother had abandoned them and it was the grandparents who had raised the two siblings. They knew nothing about their father’s murder but frequent teasing from peers and gossips in the village had filled them with rage,” the officer said.

Investigators also said the duo had recently sold at least one acre of parental property in Palwal for about ₹80-85 lakh. “They had purchased a new Royal Enfield Bullet and the same money was used in purchasing weapons and ammunition for murdering Singh,” the officer cited above added.

According to police, the siblings had disclosed their plan to some group members in the village, telling them they intended to kill Singh and surrender. Four police teams have been constituted to nab the suspects. “Raids were being carried out in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and other probable hideouts where they can take shelter,” said DSP Khatana. Armed police personnel were also deployed in the village to maintain law and order.

Following the murder, angry locals from the village and Singh’s family blocked NH-19 with the body on Tuesday and later staged a protest at Palwal civil hospital, delaying the autopsy by over 36 hours. Locals had alerted the police control room immediately after the shooting, and a team reached the spot within 15 minutes of the incident, officials said. Based on the complaint of Singh’s wife Shyamwati, 58, police registered a murder case against Dipanshu, Tushar and 16 associates at Camp police station in Palwal.