Chandigarh: In a chilling lapse after a brazen daylight killing, the three shooters who gunned down chemist shop cashier Janki Das in Sector 11 reportedly stayed put in Kajheri village for nearly two hours — buying fresh clothes, changing their appearance, and calmly planning their escape — even as Chandigarh police sounded an alert across the city.Police sources said the accused abandoned their bike near a garden in Sector 53, slipped on foot and hired an auto to Kajheri in Sector 52. There, with CCTV cameras clearly capturing their faces, they changed clothes before boarding a Volvo bus from ISBT-43, vanishing from the city without resistance.Only later in the night did police teams from Sectors 36 and 39 seal off Kajheri and launch a search operation. By then, the shooters had long fled.The audacious escape has triggered alarm at the highest level. Punjab governor-cum-UT administrator Gulab Chand Kataria reviewed the situation on Sunday, directing police to tighten security and ensure swift arrests.Following the incident, UT police intensified security at the Sector 11 market and deployed CRPF personnel alongside Chandigarh police at key checkposts. Within hours of the murder, two more chemist shop owners reported receiving extortion calls, with callers threatening to kill them in a similar manner if demands were not met.Police have secured CCTV footage from Kajheri in which the faces of all three accused are clearly visible. Ten teams have been dispatched to conduct raids across Punjab and Haryana.Meanwhile, a three-member medical panel conducted the autopsy at GMSH-16 on Sunday. Sector 11 police later handed over the body to the family. The last rites are to be performed in Rohru, Himachal Pradesh, on Monday.Preliminary autopsy findings indicate that Janki Das was hit by 8-9 bullets, with injuries to the abdomen, chest and shoulder. Family members, present outside the GMSH-16 mortuary, said they had no known enmity with anyone. The victim’s wife was scheduled to take oath as sarpanch in Rohru on Monday, which has now been cancelled.Following the murder, gangster Goldy Dhillon claimed responsibility in a social media post. Dhillon has earlier been linked to extortion-related firing at the residence of businessman Kuldeep Singh Makkar in Sector 5 in 2024. His name has also surfaced in cases involving firing at comedian Kapil Sharma’s Canada-based cafe and Indian origin businessman’s murder in Canada.Goldy Dhillon had also allegedly threatened the owner of one of the Kumar Brothers Chemists of Sector 11 a few months back.
