Farmer union, kin sit on indefinite dharna

Nikhila Pant Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, May 16

Adamant on their demands, family members of Jaswant Singh, who had committed suicide, and members of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta) Ugrahan today sat on an indefinite dharna at Lehra Bega village outside the house of the deceased. 

They also took out a protest march in the village and burnt an effigy of the state government for allegedly shielding the main accused in the case. 

Deputy Commissioner Diprava Lakra and SSP Naveen Singla today reached the village to pacify the family members along with the protesting farmers and convince them to conduct last rites of the body. They assured the villagers that while one of the three accused, whose names were mentioned in the ‘suicide’ note of the deceased, had been arrested, the remaining two would also be arrested soon. 

“During the meeting, we told the DC and the SSP that we were adamant on our demands for the arrest of the remaining two accused and immediate release of the compensation amount against the land of Jaswant Singh, which was acquired by the state government for the construction of a grain market in Bhucho,” said Shingara Singh Mann, district president of the farmer union. 

Raising slogans against the state government, district administration and police, the protesters alleged that the state government had failed to arrest main accused patwari Jagjit Singh and his associate Raja Singh. 

“The police have scripted a drama by arresting Tarlochan Singh from the Bathinda bus stand to brag about it and earn points. But through sources, we got to know that Tarlochan was produced in the police station by some reputed residents of Bhucho. There is a clear nexus between the police department and state government, aiming to shield the main accused as his arrest would probably throw up more skeletons out of the cupboard,” Mann said. 

Accusing the patwari of fraud and embezzling the compensation amount against his land, farmer Jaswant Singh had consumed some poisonous substance outside the patwarkhana at Sema village on May 10. Since then, his body has been kept in a freezer at his residence in Lehra Bega village. 

He is survived by his wife Jaswinder Kaur, sons Gurdeep Singh and Sukhmander Singh and their families. “The state government had to pay a total amount of Rs 34 lakh as compensation for 22 marlas of land, which was acquired from our family. There were nine owners of this piece of land that included my father and his siblings. My father had received a cheque of compensation but instead of his name, it bore the name of one Maggar Singh. The patwari promised my father that he would get the mistake rectified and took the cheque from him. But the revised cheque was never given to my father and the others co-owners of the land also didn’t get their share of compensation,” said Sukhmander Singh. 

He further added that his father had got fed up of running from pillar to post to get the compensation money and took the drastic step to bring the embezzlement to the notice of the state government. 

All accused are yet to be arrested

• Deputy Commissioner Diprava Lakra and SSP Naveen Singla on Tuesday assured the villagers that while one of the three accused, whose names were mentioned in the ‘suicide’ note of the deceased, had been arrested, the remaining two would also be arrested soon. 
• Accusing the patwari of fraud and embezzling the compensation amount against his land, farmer Jaswant Singh had consumed some poisonous substance outside the patwarkhana at Sema village on May 10. Since then, his body has been kept in a freezer at his residence in Lehra Bega village. 

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