5 arrested for May attack at Phillaur village sarpanch’s house

The Jalandhar Rural Police have arrested five individuals in connection with a brutal May 15 attack on Gurdawar Singh, husband of Selkiana village sarpanch, and the alleged kidnapping of his daughter. The arrests happened after the busting of a drug trafficking network operating at Ganna village, with the arrest of the key supplier, a woman Sukhi alias Mato. Sukhi's disclosures led to the arrest of the five accused. The police said Sukhi used to procure drugs from Rano Devi, a notorious peddler wanted by the NCB, who was arrested two days ago.

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The arrested accused in the sarpanch case have been identified as Taranjit Singh of Gharkhana, Samrala, Ludhiana; Gurinder Singh, of Man Nagar, Daba road, Ludhiana; Mani Bhatia of Pangaltana, Zirakpur; Gurwinder Singh of Gianpur, Sahnewal, Ludhiana, and Amritpal Singh of Seh village, Samrala.

A case was registered under multiple sections of the IPC, including 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 452 (house trespass) and 363 (kidnapping) at the Phillaur police station.

The accused had attacked Gurdawar with sharp-edged weapons on May 15, leaving him severely injured. The group then vandalised his home and ‘kidnapped’ his daughter.

The five accused are all aides of a sixth accused Bunty and had attacked the sarpanch's home allegedly due to Bunty's alleged love affair with the sarpanch's married daughter. The police said Bunty was still at large and the sarpanch's daughter was with him.

Jalandhar SSP Harkamal Preet Singh Khakh said, “We have not only solved the attack case but also led to the unearthing of a significant drug racket. The operation in this case was conducted under the supervision of DSP Sarwan Singh of Phillaur and SHO Sukhdev Singh of Phillaur police station."

The SSP said Sukhi told the police about the five men's involvement in the sarpanch case and also informed Rano Devi was one of her suppliers. The SSP said, "The sarpanch's daughter also later released a video stating that her accompanying Bunty was concensual."

During the raid, the police recovered a substantial amount of narcotics, Rs 2 lakh in drug money, and seized two cars used for smuggling.

The arrested accused are reportedly habitual criminals with numerous criminal cases under the Arms Act, NDPS Act and other heinous crimes registered against them at different police stations of the state.