Eight years after the sensational broad-daylight murder of Congress councillor Gurdeep Pehalwan, the court of Additional Sessions Judge Sanjeev Kundi has acquitted five of the accused, including notorious gangster Jagdeep Singh alias Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, while convicting three others. The judgment, pronounced on Friday evening, was uploaded on Saturday.Apart from Bhagwanpuria, the other gangsters acquitted were Bobby Malhotra, Bhupinder Singh alias Sonu Kangla, Kartik alias Ghora, and Varinder Singh alias Jattvibeny. The judge observed that the prosecution had “miserably failed” to prove the charges against them beyond reasonable doubt.However, Arun Kumar alias Chhuri Maar, Angrej Singh, and Amanpreet Singh alias Rinka were held guilty under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 148 (rioting, armed with a deadly weapon), 302 (murder), 473 (forgery-related offences), and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the IPC. Each was sentenced to life imprisonment and fined a total of Rs 22,000. In default of payment, they will undergo an additional six months’ imprisonment.Two accused — Ravneet Singh alias Sonu Mota and Rajat Malhotra alias Karan Masti — died during the trial. Sonu Mota was shot dead in April 2025 by Gurdeep’s son, Abhiraj Singh alias Abhi, who sought to avenge his father’s killing.Family members have expressed dissatisfaction with the verdict. Sukhbir Singh alias Sonu Pehalwan, brother of the slain councillor, said: “All the prime accused who had enmity with Gurdeep and continuously threatened to kill him have been acquitted. We will decide our further course of action after going through the judgment.” At present, the slain Congress leader’s mother, Gurmeet Kaur, is the councillor from the area.Amandeep Singh, legal counsel for Bhagwanpuria, said that the prosecution could not produce evidence against Bhagwanpuria and the four others. “Due to a lack of evidence, the court acquitted them,” he added.Gurdeep was gunned down on June 2, 2018, at Gol Bagh Akhara on Railway Road, which he regularly visited. Eyewitnesses told police that three armed assailants opened fire while several accomplices stood nearby. Days later, a purported social media post claimed the murder was revenge for the killing of gangster Sangam Malhotra, an associate of Bhagwanpuria who was shot dead in November 2014. The post alleged that Gurdeep was behind Sangam’s death and named Karan Masti, Arun Chhuri Maar, Rinka, and Angrej as Pehalwan’s killers. Gurdeep had reportedly received threats from Bhagwanpuria in 2015.