Gurdaspur murder: Victim’s family accuses police of laxity

Tribune News Service

Ravi Dhaliwal

Gurdaspur, May 10

The kin of Shubham, whose murder is being termed as an honour killing by locals, say the police were showing laxity in arresting Gurmeet Pahra and other five suspects.

The body of Shubham, who was having an affair with a girl of a different caste, was recovered from the fields of Pahra village near here on May 7. The victim’s mother, Veena, had named Gurmeet Pahra, father of sitting Congress MLA Barindermeet Singh Pahra, in her complaint to the police as one of the accused.

On the basis of her complaint, the police had registered an FIR under Section 302 of the IPC at the Tibber police station.

Addressing a press conference here today, kin and friends of Shubham’s family said the cops were being lax in arresting the accused.

“Though around 48 hours have passed since the murder took place, the police are still clueless. The MLA is steadfastly claiming that his father has no role in the murder. He should know that the youth’s body was recovered from the agricultural fields owned by one of his relatives,” said Happy Pahra, one of the organisers of the press conference.

He said: “Gurmeet was involved in wrongdoings on several earlier occasions, but he managed to get out of his predicament because his son was a ruling party MLA from 2017 till 2022.”

He said Pahras had been claiming that Shubham’s family had nothing to do with Pahra village and they were actual residents of Dera Baba Nanak. “If this is the case, then on what basis did the MLA give government grants to the family during his previous term when they were residing in Pahra village?” he questioned.

Senior Congress leaders, including Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa and PPCC chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, have backed Pahra. They have agreed to hold a protest in Gurdaspur in the next few days to “extend the party’s support to Gurmeet Pahra.”

Former councillor Sudhir Mahajan said: “The role of Gurmeet should be probed extensively”.

Jagjit Singh Saroya, SP (Operations), said the police were looking into all angles of the murder. “There are certain technical issues to be resolved like the doctor’s report which is still awaited. Once we get the report, we will proceed accordingly,” he said.

Body was recovered from fields on May 7

The body of Shubham, who was having an affair with a girl of a different caste, was recovered from the agricultural fields of Pahra village near Gurdaspur on May 7. The victim’s mother, Veena, had named Gurmeet Pahra, father of sitting Congress MLA Barindermeet Singh Pahra, in her complaint to the police as one of the accused.

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