With police claiming 2 suspects innocent, probe heads nowhere

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 20

The investigations in the sarpanch murder case, who was shot dead in full public view, seem to have heading nowhere with the UT police filing application in the court seeking permission to discharge two suspects who were named in the FIR and arrested for the murder.

The two accused have also been released on bail since the police did not submit a chargesheet against them. The police application states that no direct evidence against the two accused came on record and both were not involved in the murder.

Satnam Singh, sarpanch of Khurd village Hoshiarpur, was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Sector 38 (West) on April 9. The accused, who were already present there, fired at him in the middle of the road and managed to escape in a car.

The sarpanch, before succumbing to the injuries, had named three persons — Bobby, Arshdeep and Tirath. Following his statement, the police had registered a murder case against the trio at the Maloya police station.

Later after a video that was made by a woman on her mobile was received by the police, it was established that the three assailants who were seen firing at the victim were identified as Dilpreet Singh Baba, Harjinder Singh, alias Akash, and Harvinder Singh, alias Rinda. All dreaded criminals are wanted by the Punjab Police. Later, Tirath and Arshdeep, both natives of the Ghardiwal area in Punjab, were arrested under conspiracy charges, after the victim’s family mounted pressure on the Chandigarh Police to arrest them. The police have failed to arrest the accused who were seen in the video while shooting the victim.

The application seeking permission to discharge two suspects filed by Inspector Ram Rattan, SHO, Maloya police station, in court mentions that a video CD had been produced showing the presence of accused Tirath at various places in Hoshiarpur on the day of murder.

It mentions that no direct evidence against Tirath and Arshdeep came on record and both were not found involved in the murder or its conspiracy. The police application mentions that due to deficiency of evidence, challan in the case against the duo was not submitted. The court has, however, dismissed the discharge application stating that it’s not this court’s territorial jurisdiction to deal with the murder.