Avtar Singh Tari Murder Case: 15 Years On, CBI Releases Sketch, Rs 2 Lakh Reward In Namdhari Sect Case

CBI releases a suspect sketch and Rs 2 lakh reward in the Avtar Singh Tari murder case, 15 years after the Namdhari sect figure’s AK-47 killing in Ludhiana.

North Desk Correspondent

Chandigarh, July 5

More than 15 years after a Mohali businessman was gunned down in broad daylight with an AK-47, the CBI has released a sketch of one of the suspected shooters and put a Rs 2 lakh reward on information that leads to an arrest — reviving public attention on one of Punjab’s more stubborn cold cases.

Avtar Singh Tari, 57, was shot dead on April 12, 2011, on the Katani Kalan–Chandigarh main road in Ludhiana district. Two motorcycle-borne assailants opened fire on him with an assault rifle, firing more than 10 rounds before escaping. He had stepped out of a relative’s shop after stopping to drink water, having earlier suspected he was being followed.

It wasn’t the first attempt on his life. Investigations at the time found Tari had survived at least two previous attacks, with cases registered against unnamed assailants in Mohali before the fatal ambush.

The CBI, which took over the investigation in January 2017 after the case sat with Punjab Police for nearly six years, said in its latest communique that the identity of any informants would be kept confidential. The agency has asked anyone with information to contact its Special Crime Branch office in Sector 30-A, Chandigarh.

A cold case resurfacing before elections

The renewed push in the Avtar Singh Tari murder case comes months ahead of Punjab’s next Assembly elections. The CBI has not stated any link between the two, and North Desk is not asserting one — but the optics of a 15-year-old case suddenly generating a public sketch and reward money, in an election year, are hard to miss.

Avtar Singh Tari Murder Case: Why Tari was targeted

Tari’s killing was never treated as a random crime. He was a resident of Mohali who had built himself up through farming and real estate, and was considered a close associate of Sant Jagtar Singh, son-in-law of the then Namdhari sect chief Satguru Jagjit Singh. He was a regular presence at Bhaini Sahib, the sect’s Ludhiana district headquarters, and was seen as an influential figure within the Namdhari community.

Police at the time linked his murder to a brewing succession dispute inside the roughly 200-year-old sect, since Satguru Jagjit Singh had no son of his own. A case was registered at Sahnewal police station against Thakur Dalip Singh and two unidentified persons, on the complaint of Tari’s brother-in-law.

The succession dispute that followed

Avtar Singh Tari Murder Case: Satguru Jagjit Singh died in December 2012 at the age of 92. Ten days later, his nephew Thakur Uday Singh was installed as head of the sect at Bhaini Sahib. Another nephew, Thakur Dalip Singh, went on to head a rival breakaway faction based in Sirsa, Haryana.

The dispute turned violent again in April 2016, when Mata Chand Kaur — Satguru Jagjit Singh’s widow — was shot dead inside the Bhaini Sahib complex at age 88. That case, too, was handed to the CBI and remains under investigation.

Court records reviewed in earlier reporting show Thakur Dalip Singh’s name has surfaced across all three matters — the Tari murder, the Mata Chand Kaur murder, and an alleged conspiracy to attack current sect chief Satguru Uday Singh and his son-in-law. The cases were merged and taken up by the CBI in 2017. Dalip Singh did not appear before the court, and was declared a proclaimed offender this April — a status that could allow the CBI and police to move toward attaching his properties.

Fifteen years on, no arrests have been made in either killing.

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