The gun attack on Sikh leader Gurucharan Singh Billa in Sitaramdera on Saturday was a fallout of a rivalry among the functionaries of gurdwara committee in the steel city, according to the victim’s statement that has been converted into an FIR by police.

Billa, 50, who is recuperating at Tata Main Hospital, has in his statement on Saturday night accused three persons of conspiring the attack.

In the statement, which was later converted into an FIR, president of Jamshedpur Central Gurdwara Prabandhak Samiti (JCGPS) Gurmukh Singh Mukhe and its two members Balbir Singh Billu and Amerjeet Singh Ambe figure as the named accused.

Billa, the president of Jharkhand Sikh Pratinidhi Board, told police that the trio were getting increasingly jealous of his growing popularity among the Sikh community in the steel city.

Sitaramdera officer-in charge said they were probing the FIR. “We will interrogate the three suspects and if we find substantial evidence against them, we will take necessary legal action,” Singh said.

Mukhe was elected the JCGPS president in 2018 for a three-year term.

Amerjeet Singh, secretary of Jharkhand Sikh Pratinidhi Board, said” “Mukhe has been elected as the president of JCGPS and people belonging to our community here have to respect his position. But many of us do not like him. Now that he has been suspected of having masterminded the attack on Billa, the police should carry out an impartial investigation into the case.”

Mukhe was in the news a decade ago when he had allegedly cut his hair in the lock-up of Ulidih police station in Mango and blamed the cops for it. He had said the police had insulted him and the community.

Superintendent of police (city) Subhash Chandra Jat, who is monitoring the case, said: “The attack on Billa was quite serious. We are probing the case and will arrest the culprits.”