Ludhiana clash: Youth Cong leader held

Minna Zutshi

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, October 12

Punjab Youth Congress secretary Parvinder Singh Lapran was today arrested, in an attempt to murder case, while raids were conducted at the residence of other Congress leaders and workers against whom cases were registered. The police action followed a clash between activists of the Youth Akali Dal and the Congress at GLADA grounds on the eve of Dasehra.

Judicial Magistrate Bhupinder Mittal remanded Lapra in judicial custody till October 24. The court turned down the request for his police remand. None of the lawyers of the accused was present, when the latter was produced before the court after 6 pm today.

Earlier Ludhiana MP Ravneet Bittu, and party workers waited at the court complex. Bittu said the Congress leadership would sit in front of the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s residence tomorrow to register their protest against the “partisan attitude” of the police in Ludhiana on the eve of Dasehra. “We may sit on a dharna, go on hunger strike or take whatever action is required at that juncture,” he told The Tribune.

The MP alleged that Youth Akali Dal (YAD) activists had tried to kill him during the “attack” on the Congress workers at GLADA grounds on the eve of Dasehra. “If there was anything illegal on the Dasehra grounds, the police could have intervened. It’s strange that the YAD had the audacity to barge in and attack the Congress leaders, including district Congress committee urban president Gurpreet Gogi,” he alleged.

He said they would not relent till the Ludhiana Commissioner of Police and ADCP-4 were transferred and dismissed. He demanded the registration of a case under Section 307 of the IPC against the YAD leaders.

The MP said a delegation of the Congress leaders would soon meet the Punjab Governor to apprise him of the situation.

In the evening, Congress workers, led by Bittu and Deputy CLP leader Bharat Bhushan Ashu, pasted “Proud to be Akali” stickers at the office of the Police Commissioner and some official vehicles.

Tarsem Singh Bhinder, president of YAD Malwa zone-3, alleged that the Congress workers had beaten up YAD activists mercilessly during the clash. “The police did not side with us. They only tried to maintain law and order,” he added.