Five murders in week, Batala residents on edge

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Batala, July 19

With five murders having been reported in Batala last week, local residents are anxious. To add to their worries, the police have yet to arrest any of the accused in the cases.

Senior officers of this police district admit that on the one hand they are short of funds to procure modern arms, and on the other, politicians do not let them take action against criminals. Batala Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Inderbir Singh could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

Residents claim the police are turning a blind eye to the rising crimes in the town. Fed up with the lax attitude of the Batala police, the family members of Satnam Singh, who was allegedly shot dead by his cousin a few days ago, have threatened to lay siege to the SSP’s office if the accused was not arrested within the next 24 hours.

Sources said a leading ruling party politician of the area was shielding the accused. Victim’s wife Kulwinder Kaur of Nathpur village today claimed though the Qadian police had booked Rajbir Singh, he was not arrested.

In an honour killing case, a Christian girl, Nargis, was bludgeoned to death by her brothers at Marri Buchian village, 72 hours ago. The police are yet to make any headway in the case.

Similarly, in the death of Amarjit Singh, the police have failed to make any arrests. The body of Amarjit was found hanging from a tree in Kotli Veeran village a few days ago. His girlfriend Mandeep Kaur too was found murdered. Superintendent of Police (Investigation) Pardeep Malik claimed the murder cases would be cracked soon.