Farmers Movement Archive

Singhu border lynching: Month on, SIT has no clue how victim reached farmer protest site

Punjab Police have failed to find any headway in the Singhu border lynching case even after the passage of one month since a high-level special investigation team (SIT) was formed. On the direction of Punjab home minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Punjab director general of police (DGP) Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota had constituted the SIT led by Varinder Kumar, additional director general of police (ADGP)-cum-director bureau of investigation (BOI), Punjab, on October 20 to unravel an alleged conspiracy and circumstances in which victim Lakhbir Singh of Cheema Kalan village went to the Singhu border. Deputy inspector general of police (DIG-Ferozepur) Inderbir Singh and senior superintendent of police (SSP) Harvinder Singh Virk are members of the team. The team was formed after victim Lakhbir Singh’s sister Raj Kaur alleged that her brother was “allured by some unknown persons and taken to Singhu border”. 35-year-old Lakhbir, who was a daily wager, was brutally murdered by a group of Nihang Sikhs at the Delhi border in the early hours on October 15. His mutilated body was found tied to a police barricade near the farmers’ protest site. The SIT has not even questioned the four accused who were arrested by the Haryana Police. When asked any of the arrested accused brought on production warrant for questioning, SSP Virk said they can’t take their production warrant as there is no separate first information report (FIR) registered in this regard in Punjab. “We just have to verify that how he went there,” he said, adding that so far, they haven’t got any ‘headway’ or ‘clue’ in this case. The Haryana Police had arrested Sarabjit Singh of Gurdaspur, Gobindpreet Singh of Jalandhar, Narayan Singh of Anandpur Sahib in Punjab, and Bhagwant Singh of Sahajahanpur in Uttar Pradesh (UP). Meanwhile, the SIT is scheduled to visit the crime spot on Wednesday. One of the SIT members said, “We have yet to ascertain if Lakhbir went to the Singhu border on his own or with someone else. However, we are visiting the crime spot on November 24.” The Haryana government has also given ₹4 lakh compensation to the deceased’s wife Jaspreet Kaur. Her brother Sukhchain Singh said, “The government had promised to give ₹8 lakh in two instalments. We are waiting for the second instalment.” He said they have also got a letter from the Haryana government asking if they were satisfied with the investigation. “We have yet to send a reply,” he added. The victim’s sister Raj Kaur said so far, she has not got any update on the Punjab Police investigation. She had alleged that her brother could not go to the farmers’ protest site own by own and he was taken there under a deep-rooted conspiracy. She had also claimed that her brother was in touch with some ‘high-ups’ on phone.

Hindustan Times

21-11-2021

Chandigarh