Four days on, no post-mortem of Sehna murder victim

Four days after the daylight murder of Sukhbinder Singh Calcutta, aged 45, son of a former sarpanch of Sehna village here, his post-mortem could not be conducted even today.

The family, along with hundreds of supporters, continued their protest today amid rain as well, demanding the registration of a case against AAP MLA from Bhadaur, Labh Singh Ugoke, and raising several other demands.

Sukhbinder was shot dead at a shop outside the bus stand in the village on Saturday. The body is kept at the Civil Hospital, Barnala.

Meanwhile, a 21-member “Insaaf Committee” was formed today. Barnala SSP Mohd Sarfaraz Alam, along with other police officers, held two rounds of meetings with the committee members at the Sehna police station, but the committee termed the discussions “unfruitful”. Later, the police scheduled another meeting between the committee and a senior civil officer which, however, was yet to take place.

Talking to The Tribune, farmer leader and committee member Babbu Singh Pandher said, “We raised several demands, including the registration of a case against the MLA Labh Singh Ugoke, a fair probe, a government job for a family member of the deceased and the release of pending payments spent by the victim’s family on village development works during their tenure of sarpanch. The meeting, however, did not yield any result. The police have now assured us of a meeting with the Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC).”

He further said that the Insaaf Committee included the victim’s brother Sukhjit Singh Dhaliwal as well.

Meanwhile, DIG Patiala Range Kuldeep Chahal said, “We have already arrested three accused, including the key accused. The SSP is coordinating with the protesters. We are hopeful that the family will soon agree to post-mortem and cremation.”

Notably, those three arrested also belong to Sehna village, namely Harjinder Singh, alias Jinder, Gurdeep Dass, alias Deepi Bawa, and Jagwinder Singh, alias Paplu. Jinder has been arrested for allegedly shooting Sukhbinder, while Deepi is accused of having an enmity during the panchayat elections in 2018 and threatening Sukhbinder Singh Calcutta and his family. Paplu is accused of accompanying Jinder to procure a pistol from Ludhiana. The family and protesters have been claiming that MLA Labh Singh Ugoke had once publicly threatened Sukhbinder, who had been since then raising concerns about his security.

Sukhbinder was vocal against the state government and was widely known for the development works carried out during her mother’s tenure as sarpanch.

Ugoke is yet to give a statement on the incident. The AAP has blamed the Congress for politicising the issue. Politicians from across party lines are visiting the protest site.