Gurpreet Singh Gopi, leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which rules the Punjab state, was allegedly shot dead after arm-wielding assailants chased the bike he was riding and shot him dead in the Mamdot town of the state’s Ferozepur district on Saturday, police reported on Sunday.

Gopi, at the time of the incident, was travelling with another man, named Harpreet Singh, when the attackers allegedly followed them in a car and fired bullets. Gopi sustained grievous gunshot injuries and later succumbed to them, while Harpreet was seriously injured too and was rushed to the hospital for treatment.

Attackers fire at another vehicle too

Police said that several associates of Gopi and Harpreet were following them in a separate car when the murderous incident unfolded. The police claimed that the assailants fired at the car of the duo’s associates too, but its occupants managed to remain unscathed.

The gunfire’s sudden burst sent shockwaves through Mamdot, following which the police teams rushed to the scene. The cops began inspecting the crime scene and collected evidence as they worked to reconstruct the sequence of events leading up to the assassination.

Ferozepur’s Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Bhupinder Singh Sidhu said police are treating the motive behind the case as that which may have stemmed from an old rivalry, and an election-related dispute has emerged as a key angle.

Suspects identified, manhunt launched

Police claimed to have identified the suspected assailants and have launched a manhunt to trace as well as apprehend them. Multiple police teams have been constituted, which are raiding several locations, the SSP said.

SSP Sidhu said, “The attackers have been identified and shall be nabbed soon.”

Meanwhile, the incident has cast the spotlight on the local law-and-order situation, particularly amid the suspected political rivalry being examined by the police personnel. Police said further probe into the incident is underway, and more details are awaited.