His accomplices Dharam Singh and Prabhjit Singh claimed they were unaware of the incident and had helped Rana only after he told them that he had been injured.
Rana said some local councillors had helped him get into the ruling Akali Dal. A resident of Chhiden village, Rana started working as a property dealer and gradually used his contacts to join the Akali Dal. He secured the post of general secretary in September last year.
Residents of Chhiden village said Rana, who is married and has two children, was raised by his grandparents after his parents died early.
They said he sold nine acres of his family land along the Amritsar-Attari road in 2009-10 and moved to Amritsar's Chheharta area where he built a house.
“He was a brat and kept company with those dealing in the drug trade,” a village resident claimed.
Some residents of Chheharta made similar allegations. Rana had three weapons on a single arms licence issued by the Amritsar district authorities in 2010.
A Tarn Taran court has remanded Rana to five-day police custody. His accomplices, Prabhjit and Dharam Singh, will be in police custody for two days. The fourth accused, Gurbir Singh Bira, was produced in an Amritsar court which remanded him to police custody till December 10.
A team of 250 policemen of Tarn Taran police has launched a hunt for the fifth accused, Sandeep Singh alias Sunny in the vicinity of Panjwar village.
Residents of Chheharta blocked the GT road leading to Attari on Friday demanding that a case be registered against Chheharta's dismissed SHO Ashwini Kumar.
