Sarpanch among 8 released in SI’s murder case

Eight of the 20 persons, arrested in connection with the killing of sub-inspector Charanjit Singh, about two months back, have been released from jail. The released persons have reached their homes.

These released persons include Kuldeep Singh, Sarpanch of Kot Muhammad Khan village, five women and others. A total number of 70 persons were booked by the Goindwal Sahib police and 20 were arrested from the spot. The incident occurred on the night of April 8.

Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav had himself attended the cremation of SI Charanjit Singh in Tarn Taran, who was shot dead in firing between two groups of the village. Another ASI, Jasbir Singh, received serious injuries in the firing.

Manjinder Singh Lalpura, AAP MLA, Khadoor Sahib, had on his Facebook page a few days back levelled serious allegations regarding alleged lapses in registering a case in this regard and said the SSP pressurised his subordinate to register a case . The SSP, refuting the MLA’s allegations, said that investigation in the case was underway by a SP rank officer. It was a rare of the rarest case in which 70 persons were booked.

From the SHO to SSP, no police officer was ready to respond to the queries of media. When contacted on mobile, DSP Atul Soni asked to contact Inspector Prabhjit Singh, SHO, Goindwal Sahib, as he was the investigating officer (IO) in the case but he did not respond to mobile calls or to the messages sent on his WhatsApp number. SSP Abhimanyu Rana also did not respond either to mobile phone calls or to SMS messages.

It is the second instance when Khadoor Sahib MLA Manjinder Singh has been at loggerheads with the SSP of the district. Previously the MLA had challenged the then SSP Gurmeet Singh Chauhan more than a year back when the same Goindwal Sahib police had arrested some persons including a close relative of the MLA, on charges of being involved in illegal mining of minor minerals.