Suri, who had police protection in Punjabwas protesting outside a temple alleging sacrilege and insult to Hindu idols. At least two of the five shots fired hit him, leaving him dead.
This is the second big sensational murder, after singer-Congress leader Sidhu Moosewala, since the AAP government under Bhagwant Mann came to power in March. The AAP won the Punjab election on the promise of fighting crime among other things in Punjab.
The AAP declared its CM candidate for Gujarat on Friday — former journalist Isudan Gadhviwho promised to “send big shots to jail” for the Morbi bridge collapse that killed 135 people on October 30.
AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal has been trying to win over the Hindutva voters, with his recent proposal of having images of Lakshmi and Ganesh on the Rupee.
Known for his fiery speeches, Suri had five hate speech cases lodged against him.
Before he was murdered, Suri was live on Facebook, showing some idols “dumped in garbage”, and warning, “We will not tolerate such sacrilege, even if by fellow Hindus.”
Suri had got into an argument with Gopal Mandir management officials earlier in the day over alleged sacrilege of idols.
In 2017, Christian pastor Sultan Masih and Ludhiana RSS leader Ravinder Gosain were shot dead.
In May this year, Moosewala was shot dead, triggering a big debate.
Punjab BJP chief Ashwani Sharma said, “The law and order situation has completely broken down in the state.”
Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh ‘Raja’ Warring said, “Law and order is deteriorating and going from bad to worse.”
Leaders of various Hindu organisations staged protests outside the private hospital where Suri was taken for treatment and also blocked the road for some time.
The police commissioner said that the control room received the message that Suri was attacked between 3.30pm and 4pm. Since he had bullet injuries so he was immediately shifted to the hospital.
“It is too early to say that it was an act of terrorism, we are investigating the incident with every angle,” he said.