Tarn Taran (Gurpreet Singh)— A village sarpanch was shot dead in broad daylight by unidentified assailants in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district, triggering widespread panic and renewed scrutiny over targeted extortion crimes in the border region.
The victim, identified as Ashwani Kumar, the village head of Dhun Dhaiewala, was ambushed while carrying out routine morning work in the locality. Eyewitnesses reported that armed perpetrators arrived on motorcycles, cornered Kumar at close range, and unleashed an indiscriminate barrage of gunfire before fleeing the scene. Kumar suffered multiple bullet wounds and collapsed in a pool of blood; he was rushed to a nearby civil hospital, where attending physicians declared him dead on arrival.
Following the brazen killing, the victim’s wife revealed that Kumar had been receiving persistent extortion calls demanding ₹50 lakh over the past several weeks. She stated that foreign-based criminal syndicates and local gangster networks had threatened fatal consequences if the extortion money was not delivered, alleging that multiple appeals for police intervention and protection had failed to avert the strike.
Punjab Police cordoned off the entire Dhun Dhaiewala belt and initiated a high-alert cordon-and-search operation across surrounding transit routes. Forensic specialists and ballistic examiners were deployed to recover spent shell casings and compile crime-scene evidence.
Senior police officials stated that a First Information Report (FIR) has been lodged under murder and Arms Act provisions, adding that dedicated operational units are reviewing regional CCTV surveillance feeds and tracing active mobile communication links associated with suspected extortion modules.
The daytime murder has prompted fierce criticism from local residents and opposition figures, who pointed to deteriorating law-and-order conditions and the brazen activities of extortion rings across the Majha belt. Authorities have assured that the shooters and the masterminds orchestrating the murder will be identified and apprehended swiftly.
