Balwinder Singh’s kin threaten to return bravery awards

Gurbaxpuri

Tarn Taran, November 21

Raising a question mark over the police probe into the killing of Shaurya Chakra awardee Balwinder Singh, wife Jagdish Kaur today threatened to return all four bravery awards received by the family to the President on December 12 if their demands were not met.

Balwinder and three other family members were given the bravery awards for fighting militancy.

Balwinder was shot by two assailants at his residence at Bhikhiwind, 35 km from here, on October 16.

Addressing a press conference at her residence, Jagdish condemned the attitude of the district police over the family’s demand for providing them with adequate security cover.

While the family had demanded paramilitary cover, they had been provided with a handful of security men for protection. One of them was even found under the influence of alcohol while on duty, she alleged.

She questioned the police claim of a transparent probe, saying they were hesitant to disclose the motive behind the murder. She said the suspects, including mastermind Sukhmeet Pal Singh, alias Sukh Bhikhariwal, and shooters Sukhdeep Singh Bhura and Gurjit Singh Bhaa, were still at large.

“How can the SIT probe be transparent when no one from the family has been made part of the investigation?” she said.

She claimed that the district police were reluctant to issue weapon licences to the family for self-defence despite an assurance in this regard by Ferozepur DIG Hardial Singh Mann.

DIG Mann, however, claimed the investigation was transparent and that efforts were on to arrest Bhikhiwal and the two shooters. He said a weapon licence for Jagdish Kaur’s elder son had been approved and that SSP Dhruman H Nimbale had been asked to meet the family and redress their grievances.

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