No clue to killers of Hindu outfit leader

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 15

Hindu leaders led by Hindu Suraksha Samiti chief Swami Panchanand Giri have alleged that the killing of Shri Hindu Takhat leader Amit Sharma outside a temple yesterday was a handiwork of Khalistani militants.

The Ludhiana police have, however, neither confirmed nor ruled out the possibility of Khalistani extremists being behind the killing. Panchanand is quite vocal against Khalistan and he frequently posts videos on the Internet speaking against Khalistan.

Within hours of Amit’s killing, the Facebook page meant for propagating the demand of Khalistan had a photograph of the deceased posted on it with status: “Khalistan Zindabad”. The said page has over 60,000 likes.

Soon after the said post, the page received dozens of comments from the people who termed the killing right and wrote: “It is just a beginning.” Many Facebook users hailed the role of two bike-borne persons who killed Amit.

One of the posts states: “These people (Hindu activists) speak against the Sikhs and if they do not stop, such consequences are natural.” Several posts welcomed bike-borne youths’ act and encouraged them to continue with their deeds.

Shri Hindu Takhat spokesperson Rohit Sahni said, “It is surely the handiwork of Khalistani militants. They had been threatening our leaders from long and even the police were informed about it. The Ludhiana police, however, kept denying security on one pretext or another. Now, Khalistan supporters are openly putting posts on Facebook welcoming the killing of our leader and are threatening to repeat the action.”

Varun Mehta, Punjab president of the Hindu Takhat, said Khalistani militants had earlier killed leader Jagdish Gagneja and Shiv Sena leader Durga Dass Gupta at Khanna. While the Punjab Police were still groping in the dark in both cases, another Hindu leader had been killed, he said.

Meanwhile, Amit was cremated at Dholewal cremation ground where leaders from various political parties reached to console the bereaved family.

Police Commissioner Jatinder Singh Aulakh said no involvement of any Khalistani outfit had come to the fore in the probe so far. The police were, however, working on various theories to trace the culprits. “Some CCTV footages are being scanned to gather clues about the assailants,” Aulakh added.