Haridwar (U'khand), Apr 9: One of the assailants who allegedly shot dead the Nanakmatta Sahib Gurdwara dera kar seva chief last month was killed in an encounter with the Special Task Force and police in Haridwar district early on Tuesday.

The police said another accused fled the spot and a search is underway to nab him.

Baba Tarsem Singh was shot dead on March 28 on the shrine's premises by two motorcycle-borne men in Udham Singh Nagar district.

The accused were travelling on a motorcycle when they were asked to stop by the police in Haridwar's Bhagwanpur area past midnight on Tuesday.

They didn't stop and escaped towards Kaliyar. The police chased the duo and an encounter ensued during which Amarjeet Singh alias Bittu was shot at while the other accused, Sarabjit Singh, escaped.

Amarjeet Singh was taken to the Roorkee Civil Hospital where doctors declared him dead.

Senior Superintendent of Police (Haridwar) Pramendra Doval reached the hospital with other officers after receiving news of the encounter.

Teams of the Special Task Force (STF) and the police are searching for Sarabjit Singh.

Besides the two assailants, the police have booked retired IAS officer Harbans Singh Chugh, who heads the Nanakmatta Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, Baba Anup Singh and Pritam Singh Sandhu, the vice-president of a regional Sikh outfit, in the murder case.

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Prayagraj (PTI): The Allahabad High Court has set aside a lower court order mandating a man to pay maintenance to his estranged wife, observing that she earns her living and did not reveal the true salary in her affidavit.

Justice Madan Pal Singh also allowed a criminal revision petition filed by the man, Ankit Saha.

"A perusal of the impugned judgment indicates that in the affidavit filed before the trial court, the opposite party herself admitted that she is a post-graduate and a web designer by qualification. She is working as a senior sales coordinator in a company and getting a salary of Rs 34,000 per month," the court said in the December 3 order.

"But in her cross-examination, she has admitted that she was earning Rs 36,000 per month. Such an amount for a wife who has no other liability cannot be said to be meagre; whereas the man has the responsibility of maintaining his aged parents and other social obligations," it observed.

The high court observed that the woman was not entitled to get any maintenance from her husband "as she is an earning lady and able to maintain herself".

The man's counsel argued in court that the estranged wife did not reveal the whole truth in the affidavit.

"She claimed herself to be an illiterate and unemployed woman. When the document filed by the man was shown to her before the trial court, she admitted her income during cross-examination. Thus, it is clear that she did not come before the trial court with clean hands," the counsel submitted.

The court, in its order, said, "Cases of those litigants who have no regard for the truth and those who indulge in suppressing material facts need to be thrown out of the court."

It impugned the lower court's February 17 judgment and order, passed by the principal judge of a family court in Gautam Buddh Nagar and allowed the criminal revision petition filed by the man.