Amreen Kaur Rai: The Woman Behind Chandigarh's Sector 9 Contract Killing

From ‘BJP worker’ and NGO activist to alleged contract killing mastermind — the chilling story of Amreen Kaur Rai and the Rs 50 lakh hit on property dealer Cheeni.

North Desk Bureau

Chandigarh, May 7

The photographs are still there if you look. Amreen Kaur Rai at a political gathering, smiling. Amreen Kaur Rai at a charity event, earnest. Amreen Kaur Rai in a caption declaring her commitment to a brighter Punjab.

A few days ago, Chandigarh Police arrested her for allegedly paying Rs 50 lakh to a gangster to have a man shot dead outside a gym.

Who is Amreen Kaur Rai

She is in her late forties, lives in a one-kanal house in posh Sector 35 here, ran an NGO, brokered property deals on the side, and had recently affiliated herself with the Punjab unit of Bhartiya Janata Party. In the city’s social circuit, she was a known face — the kind of person who appeared in the right rooms and knew the right people.

Amreen Kaur Rai was known as a woman of connections. In May 2024, she publicly announced her decision to join the BJP, describing herself as someone who had dedicated seven years to serving the people of Punjab and Chandigarh. Her smiling picture with a party’s senior leader is put up as a proof, and there are many more pictures –with many other bigwigs who matter.  

When contacted by North Desk, Vineet Joshi, a BJP spokesperson, said: “Hundreds of people join the party and she might have been one of those. I don’t remember her as a prominent name.”

What she allegedly did, however, is not something that gets lost in a crowd

The shocking incident

The region was shocked when on March 18, Charanpreet Singh alias Cheeni, 31, was shot dead. The video of Cheeni in a pool of blood went viral. Not only was the attack brazen because of the matter in which it was executed. But more so, because the incident took place in an area that’s less than a kilometer from where the buildings housing the Chandigarh and Punjab secretariats, Punjab Police headquarters and Chandigarh Police headquarters, and is just yards from the iconic shopping centre of Chandigarh–Sector 17.

Cheeni had a complicated past of his own, with multiple FIRs across police stations in Kurali and Majri going back to 2016.  

A Transaction That Turned Toxic

Police sources say that in 2025, Amreen entered into an agreement to buy 8 acres of land in New Chandigarh through property dealer Charanpreet Singh, 31, known in real estate circles as Cheeni. The rate was Rs 1.75 crore per acre. She paid Rs 4 crore upfront.

The money for the remaining amount was to come from selling a Sector 35 commercial property she co-owned — a quarter share each held by her and a close family member who is a senior Punjab Police officer, with her father-in-law holding the majority stake. When her father-in-law declined to sell, the financial arrangement she had counted on collapsed, add police sources.

She paid another Rs 3 crore. Cheeni handed over 4.25 acres. But the land sat without possession being transferred. Then came word that the original sellers were unwilling to break up the full 8-acre parcel — effectively shutting the door on completing the transaction as agreed.

Amreen went to the police in Mohali. Sources say Cheeni was eventually pressured into offering partial compensation, partly owing to the influence her police relative carried. It wasn’t enough. The money may have moved, but the rage did not.

Eight Tries and a Rs 50 Lakh Deal

At some point — investigators believe it was in the latter part of 2025 — Amreen stopped looking for a legal remedy and started looking for something else entirely.

Her alleged route into Chandigarh’s underworld ran through a gym. Harshpreet Singh Bains, 27, a property dealer from Kaimbala village in Mohali, was a regular at the same fitness centre. He had his own grievances against Cheeni — a business rivalry — and sources say Amreen’s son was the one who first brought the two together. Harshpreet, in turn, knew how to make the kind of call Amreen now wanted made.

Contact was allegedly established with Lucky Patial of the Davinder Bambiha gang through Zangi, an encrypted messaging and calling application designed to leave minimal digital traces. Amreen reportedly spoke directly with Patial. The contract price settled on was Rs 50 lakh, as per police.

What followed was not swift. The gang put shooters on Cheeni in January 2026 — staking out the same Sector 9 gym across four consecutive days, January 23 to 26. Each time, they pulled back. The security blanket thrown across the city ahead of Republic Day left no room to act. More attempts followed in early March. Each one came to nothing.

The eighth attempt failed like the rest.

March 18

Cheeni finished his morning workout at Body Zone Gym in Sector 9 and walked to his car. It was around 12.30 pm. Two men on a motorcycle drew up alongside. They fired roughly a dozen rounds into the vehicle from both sides before riding away. He was taken to PGI. He did not survive.

Lucky Patial purportedly posted about it on social media within hours — a gangster’s receipt of delivery.

Amreen had worked out at the same gym. She and Cheeni had known each other. The parking lot where he died was one she would have walked through herself.

The Registered Weapon

Nothing in the investigation pointed to Amreen until a naka check on April 29 stopped Harshpreet Singh Bains. Officers found an imported .45 bore pistol on him and two live cartridges. Routine verification of the weapon’s registration returned a name: Amreen Kaur Rai.

Her own licensed firearm, in the hands of her middleman. From there, the thread pulled fast. Harshpreet’s questioning led to Amreen’s arrest. Separately, investigators established that shooter Rajan alias Piyush Pahalwan had been looped into calls between Amreen and Patial during the planning stage — close enough to hear, and later to tell.

Her phone and devices are now with forensic teams. Police say the Zangi trail is being pursued, though the platform’s architecture makes data retrieval difficult.

The police have arrested all accused identified in the case.  

Whether the net widens further — to others who may have assisted in funding or moving the Rs 50 lakh — remains to be seen.

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