Singhu lynching: Haryana police SIT probing veracity of another video of victim

Lakhbir Singh, who hailed from a village in Punjab’s Tarn Taran, was killed on October 15 and his body tied to a barricade at the Singhu border with a hand chopped off and multiple wounds caused by sharp-edged weapons

A security person keeps vigil at Singhu Border near the site of the farmers protest, in New Delhi. PTI

Chandigarh, October 21

A Special Investigation Team of the Haryana Police is probing the veracity of a purported video of the Singhu lynching victim making some claims before his death, an official said on Thursday.

“This video was circulating yesterday and we are working towards verifying the veracity of this clip in which the victim is heard telling the mob surrounding him that he was given Rs 30,000 by someone but for what purpose is not clear,” Assistant Superintendent of Police, Kharkhoda, Sonepat, Mayank Gupta said over the phone on Thursday.

“Whether he is saying this under duress is also not clear,” added Gupta who is heading one of the two SITs former by the Haryana Police to probe the incident.

While one SIT was formed to carry out the overall probe into the case, the Gupta-led SIT was constituted to investigate the videos of the incident circulating on social media.

Gupta said in the fresh video clip, the victim is also heard sharing the phone number of a person with the mob.

There are reports that one more video of the incident was circulating on social media and police were trying to verify that too, he said.

“On the basis of various videos which were circulating, we have identified more people for their involvement in the incident. Further investigations are on,” he said.

On Wednesday, the Punjab government had also constituted a special investigation team to look into the complaint of the sister of the Dalit labourer lynched at a farmers’ protest site in Singhu that he was “allured” and taken to the Delhi-Haryana border.

She also demanded a probe into the matter.

Lakhbir Singh, who hailed from a village in Punjab’s Tarn Taran, was killed on October 15 and his body tied to a barricade at the Singhu border with a hand chopped off and multiple wounds caused by sharp-edged weapons.

So far, four people, members of the Sikhs’ Nihang order, have been arrested in connection with the gruesome killing.

The case had sparked outrage and triggered calls for action to clear the protest sites on Delhi’s borders where farmers have been camping since last November to press for the scrapping of the Centre’s three agri laws.

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha has, however, distanced itself from the incident, saying it wanted to make it clear that “both the parties to the incident”, the Nihang group and the victim, have no relation with the morcha. PTI