More than 15 years after the sensational murder of Namdhari sect follower Avtar Singh Tari, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has intensified efforts to crack the long-pending case by releasing the sketch of one of the suspected assailants and announcing a reward of ₹2 lakh for credible information.The CBI on Saturday made public the sketch of a man believed to be one of the assailants involved in the daylight murder that shook Punjab in 2011. (HT)The agency on Saturday made public the sketch of a man believed to be one of the assailants involved in the daylight murder that shook Punjab in 2011. The CBI said the identity of informants would be kept strictly confidential.Tari, 57, was gunned down on April 12, 2011, near Katani Kalan on the Chandigarh-Ludhiana road, in what the CBI officials described as a carefully planned assassination. According to the probe, two motorcycle-borne attackers armed with an AK-47 rifle opened indiscriminate fire on him, pumping more than 10 bullets before fleeing.The murder took place around 11 am, shortly after Tari stopped near a relative’s shop to drink water. He was travelling from Mohali to Bhaini Sahib, the headquarters of the Namdhari sect, in his Toyota Corolla. The officials believe Tari had sensed he was being followed shortly before the attack.The case, initially investigated by Punjab Police, was handed over to the CBI on January 9, 2017, amid persistent demands for a deeper probe into the murder and its alleged links to internal tensions within the influential Namdhari sect.Tari was widely regarded as a prominent and influential figure in the Namdhari community. Known for his deep devotion to the sect, he had earned significant trust within its leadership over the years.Originally from a family that migrated after Partition and later settled in Haryana, Tari eventually built his base in Mohali, where he was involved in farming and real estate. Despite his business engagements, he remained closely connected with Bhaini Sahib and was considered especially close to Sant Jagtar Singh, son-in-law of Satguru Jagjit Singh.At the time, Punjab Police had linked Tari’s murder to a possible succession struggle within the over 200-year-old Namdhari sect, as Satguru Jagjit Singh had no son and questions over succession had triggered internal friction.An FIR was registered at Sahnewal police station against Thakur Dalip Singh and two unidentified men on the complaint of Tari’s brother-in-law, Balwant Singh.The officials had also found that Tari had survived at least two earlier attacks, with separate cases registered in Mohali, indicating that he had been under threat for years before his murder.The case gained further complexity after a series of dramatic developments in the Namdhari sect leadership. Satguru Jagjit Singh passed away in December 2012 at the age of 92. Days later, his nephew Thakur Uday Singh was installed as head of the sect at Bhaini Sahib, while his brother Dalip Singh later emerged as head of a rival faction based in Sirsa, Haryana.The sect was rocked again in April 2016, when Mata Chand Kaur, wife of Satguru Jagjit Singh, was shot dead inside the Bhaini Sahib complex. That murder is also being investigated by the CBI. In that case, Dalip Singh was declared a proclaimed offender earlier this year.