Amritsar: Eight years after the sensational, broad-daylight assassination of Congress councillor Gurdeep Pehalwan in Amritsar, the court of Additional Sessions Judge Sanjeev Kundi has delivered a high-stakes split verdict. The court acquitted notorious gangster Jagdeep Singh, popularly known as Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, alongside four other co-accused due to a lack of incriminating evidence. Meanwhile, three individuals were convicted for their direct roles in the targeted slaying and were handed rigorous life sentences, concluding a lengthy judicial process that had kept the border city on edge for nearly a decade.
The targeted killing took place on June 2, 2018, when Pehalwan was gunned down by three armed assailants at the Gol Bagh Akhara on Railway Road, an exercise facility he regularly frequented. Investigators initially suspected the murder was an act of gang-war retribution, linked to a viral social media post claiming revenge for the 2014 assassination of gangster Sangam Malhotra, a close associate of Bhagwanpuria. Throughout the protracted trial, two other accused, Ravneet Singh alias Sonu Mota and Rajat Malhotra alias Karan Masti, passed away. Notably, Sonu Mota was shot dead in April 2025 by Pehalwan’s son, Abhiraj Singh, in an alleged act of personal retaliation.
In the final ruling pronounced on Friday evening and officially uploaded this weekend, Judge Kundi observed that the state prosecution had fundamentally failed to substantiate the criminal charges against the prime accused beyond a reasonable doubt. Alongside Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, those cleared of all charges include Bobby Malhotra, Bhupinder Singh alias Sonu Kangla, Kartik alias Ghora, and Varinder Singh alias Sunny. Defence counsel Amandeep Singh stated that the prosecution could not establish a verifiable link or provide a solid sequence of events connecting the acquitted individuals to the actual execution of the crime, necessitating their immediate release under the law.
Conversely, the Amritsar court found the remaining three accused, Arun Kumar alias Chhuri Maar, Angrej Singh, and Amanpreet Singh alias Rinka, guilty under several stringent provisions of the Indian Penal Code. Their convictions include charges of murder, criminal conspiracy, rioting while armed with deadly weapons, forgery-related offences, and the deliberate destruction of evidence. Apart from the life terms, the judicial bench imposed a financial penalty of twenty-two thousand rupees on each convict, stipulating that a failure to clear the fine will result in an additional six months of imprisonment.
The split verdict has evoked sharp criticism and deep dissatisfaction from the slain leader’s family, who had continuously alleged receiving death threats from the Bhagwanpuria syndicate since 2015. Sukhbir Singh alias Sonu Pehalwan, the brother of the deceased leader whose mother Gurmeet Kaur currently serves as the area councillor, expressed profound disappointment that the primary instigators with documented enmity had bypassed conviction. The family confirmed plans to carefully review the complete text of the judgment before filing a formal appeal in the Punjab and Haryana High Court to seek absolute justice
