The husband of a woman sarpanch of Ballchapper village in the district was shot dead on Friday, police said.
At the time of the incident, village head Satnam Kaur's husband Rashpal Singh was watering his farming fields, when two youths arrived there on a bike and opened fire at him, leaving him critically injured.
By the time people reached the spot from the nearby fields, the accused had escaped.
Rashpal was declared brought dead on being rushed to the hospital here, the police said.
They said as per the preliminary investigation a piece of Panchayat land in Balchhapper village was illegally occupied by some people while this land was identified for installation of solar panels.
The illegal occupants of the land, however, were evicted by authorities recently.
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The people who had illegally occupied this land, however, held some grudge against Rashpal Singh and suspected him to be behind getting them evicted, the police said.
A police official said three people have been named as accused by the victim's family members. A case has been registered against them and is being investigated, he said.