2 murders in 12 days shock Sehna villagers in Barnala 

Residents of Sehna village, located about 17 km from Barnala town, on Barnala-Jaito Road, are shaken by two murders in the past 12 days.

This morning, the body of a 40-year-old man was found lying in a pool of blood on the banks of a canal in the village. The deceased, identified as Maggar Singh, a daily-wager, had severe head injuries.

He had been missing since last night.

The police have taken the body into custody and started an investigation, treating the case as a suspected murder. The body was sent to Barnala Civil Hospital for a post-mortem. Gurmander Singh, SHO of Sehna police station, said a dog squad and forensic experts were called to assist in the probe.

Earlier, on October 4 this year, 45-year-old Sukhbinder Singh Calcutta, son of village ex-sarpanch Malkit Kaur, was allegedly shot dead by a resident of the same village, when he was sitting at a shop outside the bus stand. The murder triggered a week-long protest demanding justice. Sukhbinder was cremated on October 11.

Some villagers said such incidents were rare in Sehna and expressed fear following the recent killings.