The Punjab Police on Sunday constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the brutal murder of an Akali leader in Punjab's Gurdaspur.
The move came days after police failed to make any arrest in the case.
Batala Senior Superintendent of Police Opinderjit Singh Ghuman on Sunday said the SIT will comprise DSP (Special Branch) Prem Kumar, DSP (Dera Baba Nanak) Lakhwinder Singh, two inspectors and the station house officer of the Kotli Surat Malhi police station.
The SP (Headquarter) would monitor the SIT, the SSP said, adding that the accused would be nabbed soon.
Dalbir Singh Dhilwan (51), who was a two-time Sarpanch and the vice-president of the Gurdaspur unit of the Shiromani Akali Dal, was shot dead and his legs chopped off following an altercation on November 18.
Meanwhile, the Shiromani Akali Dal sought a CBI probe into the case, accusing the the Punjab Police of "trying to save" the accused at the "behest" of a Punjab minister.
"Seven days have passed since the cold blooded murder of Dalbir Singh Dhilwan but not even a single accused has been nabbed by the Punjab Police," SAD's senior leader Bikram Singh Majithia said while addressing the media here on Sunday evening.
"The Punjab Police is trying to cover up and save the accused at the behest of a Punjab minister," alleged Majithia demanding a CBI probe or an inquiry by a sitting high court judge.
Majithia, who was accompanied by former minister Daljit Singh Cheema, said the police were not ready to accept it as a "political murder".
Majithia and Cheema alleged that the Batala SSP had even refused to meet Dalbir's daughter and was not registering the complaint of Dalbir's son Sandeep that his father's killers had the "direct patronage" of a Punjab minister.
The SAD leaders also alleged that the minister had links with notorious gangster Jaggu Bhagwanpuria through his close associates and demanded a probe by an independent agency to expose him.
Meanwhile, Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar accused the Akalis of trying to make political gains out of Dalbir's murder, which he described as highly condemnable.
"It was unfortunate that Akali Dal leaders are trying hard to take political mileage. The SAD had lost faith and moral support of the masses in Punjab; its leaders are battling to recapture the ground by raising false issues," Jakhar said in a statement. Jakhar said he believed that people would no longer be "misled" by the SAD's top brass that had "deceived" the masses during the decade-long regime.
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