Muktsar, January 9
The recovery of half-burnt bodies of four children from an abandoned rice mill owned by former Congress MP, Mr Jagmeet Singh Brar, created a major sensation here tonight. The missing bodies are suspected to be of the three girls and a boy who went missing from Pothi Kalan village on November 14 last year. The police has set up a Special Investigating Team (SIT) headed by the SSP to look into the entire case.

Mr Jagmeet Singh Brar expressed shock over the recovery of bodies from his sheller, saying that the building had been lying in disuse for the past five years.

Mr Brar, who is in New Delhi in connection with the meeting of the Punjab Election Committee, offered to return to Muktsar to help the police in further investigations. He expressed apprehension that someone had tried to get him involved by using the abandoned premises.

When asked as to who could try to embarrass him and implicate him in a case of gruesome crime, he said he did not suspect the role of any of his rivals as they were all mature and well meaning people. “They may have ideological differences with me but cannot stoop so low as to be behind this unfortunate episode,” he told a TV channel late tonight.

According to Inspector-General of Police V.K. Bhawra, four children of Pothi Kalan village were reportedly kidnapped on November 14. A case was registered at Muktsar police station.

Only a post-mortem examination could establish the identity of the bodies recovered from the abandoned sheller this evening,” the Inspector-General said. He said that next of kin of the missing kids, too, had been invited for identification assisting the police in establishing the identity of the bodies.

Meanwhile, Mr Sukhbir Badal, general secretary of the Shiromani Akali Dal, demanded arrest of Mr Jagmeet Brar, saying that close on the heels of Nithari episode, it was second case of heinous crime in which names of senior Congress leaders were mentioned. He said that even in the Nithari episode, the name of a senior Congress leader was involved.

Accusing the Director-General of Police of a pro-Congress bias, he said the police was bending backwards to protect criminals and their supporters. He said a meeting of SAD would be convened soon to discuss the issue. He demanded a probe by an independent agency into the case.