2 Nihangs held for attacking police officials at village

Two Nihangs who had attacked a police team were arrested by the Ludhiana police. One of the suspects is facing a murder case while the other is facing a case under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) registered against him in the past.

The duo were identified as Simarjit Singh (36), a resident of Kamalpura village, and Manjinder Singh, alias Mani (27), a resident of Abbuwal. The police recovered 12 sharp weapons, including four swords, from them, which they had used to attack the police team. The police also recovered three motorcycles, two cars (Hyundai Santro and i10), a mini-truck and a canter from their possession. The vehicles were looted by the suspects in the past from the region.

Commissioner of Police (CP), Ludhiana, Kuldeep Singh Chahal, in a statement issued stated that three suspects, including the arrested duo, had looted a Maruti Alto car from a farmer, Manohar Singh, at Sangowal village on January 14. During the investigation, when Sadar police SHO inspector Harshvir Singh, along with a police team, reached Kamalpura village to nab Simarjit, the suspect and his companions attacked inspector Harshvir and SI Tarsem Singh. Both suffered injuries.

The CP in a statement stated that despite the attack by the miscreants, the police team did not lose courage and made an attempt to arrest Simarjit but Kamalpura sarpanch Mandeep Singh, alias Gogu Baba, panch Pamma, Harjit Singh Totu and 12 others, including family members of the nihangs, cornered the police officials with a motive to help Simarjit flee the scene. They even damaged the police vehicle. The inspector had to fire shots in the air to save the police team and to prevent the suspects from fleeing the place.

Simarjit and Manjinder were arrested by the police. The third suspect, Sukhvir Singh, a resident of Moga, was yet to be arrested by the police.

Simarjit has a criminal past as a case under the UAPA and Arms Act was registered against him at the Ramdas police station, Amritsar rural, in 2017. Manjinder is a proclaimed offender in a murder case registered against him in Barnala in 2024, in which he had severed head of a man.

ADCP Dev Singh said Simarjit was a notorious criminal as he was reportedly leading the robbers’ gang.

ACP South Harjinder Singh said Nihangs had formed a gang to commit vehicle snatching incidents and other crimes. In further probe, their role in other unsolved vehicle robberies or crimes would be verified.