Female relatives of 20 absconding suspects complain of harassment

Our Correspondent

Abohar, March 19

Even after several police teams were formed to trace and nab nearly 20 suspects who were booked for hacking a man to death after dragging him in Sito Gunno village on Saturday night, none of them has been arrested so far.

Dozens of women and a few men, who met Balluana DSP Sukhwinder Singh Brar at Abohar today in the presence of Abohar MLA Sandeep Jakhar, complained that they were being harassed by the designated police teams looking for the suspects. These women, all relatives of the 20 suspects in question, claimed that they had no information about their whereabouts.

On Sunday, after registering a case, the police conducted raids at the suspects' houses and none of them was found at home.

Some men, had joined the womenfolk to meet DSP Brar, said certain elements had been creating an atmosphere of terror in Sito Gunno, and that they must be handled with a firm hand. They further alleged that attempts to implicate some innocent persons were being made due to political vendetta.

In response, the DSP assured the protesters of a fair investigation during which no woman would be harassed.

On Saturday night, about 20 armed miscreants had allegedly picked up two persons out three men returning from a fuel station near Sito Gunno village, 21 kilometres from here. The suspects forcibly took the duo to a nearby government school and brutally attacked them with sharp weapons. One of the victims, Surinder Singh, died on the spot while his friend Lovepreet Singh was gravely injured. The deceased's brother Manga Singh said he, his brother Surinder Singh and a friend, Lovepreet Singh, were returning home late on Saturday night. When they reached Sito Gunno, about 20 youths along the road forcibly took his brother and Lovepreet to the government school and attacked them with sharp weapons, killing Surinder. Manga Singh said he managed to flee the spot.

A case had been registered against Pawan Bhat, Neelkamal, Hardeep Ladia, Dharamveer, Kuldeep, Vishal, Raju Nanian, Pawan, Dharma, Rakesh, Bharat Thakur, Ravi of Sito Gunno; Kanwal, Vinod Khanna and Sonu of Sukhchain; Bindu Megh of Khairpur; Dharampal Guggi and Rakesh Raku of Sardarpura; and Vikas of Kaluana, besides 10 others.

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