Land dispute: Man kills father, nephew

Our Correspondent

Shamchurasi (Hoshiarpur), May 21

A man, accompanied by his son and two persons, killed his father and nephew using his licenced .12 bore gun over a land dispute here on Monday.

The accused also killed his pet when it barked at him. A woman had a narrow escape as she managed to flee from the house with her two daughters at the time of the incident.

The accused have been identified as Balvir Singh and his son Kulwant Singh while two others are yet to be identified.

The police have arrested Balvir Singh and his son.

According to information, there has been a land dispute for many years between Balvir Singh and Surjit Singh, sons of Sulakkhan Singh (85), a resident of Lamme village.

After the death of Surjit Singh, Sulakkhan was staying with Surjit’s son Harmeet Singh (37). It is said that Sulakkhan Singh had allegedly got the land , cultivated by Balvir, transferred to his grandson Harmeet. After that, relations between both families were turned sour. On a number of occasions, panchayat meetings were called to resolve the dispute.

On Monday, Balvir, along with his son Kulwant Singh and two unidentified persons, stopped his nephew Harmeet (37), who was going to take fodder from the farm.

The accused fired gun shots from his double barrel at Harmeet, who died on the spot. They also slit his neck with a sharp weapon.

Later, the accused went to Harmeet’s house and fired at Sulakkhan. After killing him, they stabbed in his stomach with a sharp weapon.

Harmeet’s wife Ranjit Kaur managed to run away from the house.

After getting the information, the police reached the spot and took the bodies to the Civil Hospital for a postmortem examination.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) J Elanchezhian said two persons had been arrested and investigation was on to identify other accused.

The SSP said a case had been registered against the other accused.

The issue

• According to information, there has been a land dispute for many years between Balvir Singh and Surjit Singh, sons of Sulakkhan Singh (85), a resident of Lamme village. 
• After the death of Surjit Singh, Sulakkhan was staying with Surjit's son Harmeet Singh (37). It is said that Sulakkhan Singh had allegedly got the land , cultivated by Balvir, transferred to his grandson Harmeet. After that, relations between both families were turned sour. On a number of occasions, panchayat meeting were called to resolve the dispute.