Singhu lynching: 2nd person arrested; victim's family demands high-level probe

A second member of the Sikhs Nihang order was arrested in connection with the lynching of a man at the farmers protest site at Singhu border even as the victims family questioned the attackers claim that he had committed sacrilege and demanded a highlevel probe into the episodeSarabjit Singh arrested on October 15 for the brutal killing of Lakhbir Singh was produced before a Sonepat court in Haryana and remanded in police custody for seven days Hours later Narain Singh was also arrested by the Amritsar Rural police at Amarkot village near Jandiala Guru in Amritsar district police saidNarain Singh however claimed that he had informed the police that he was surrendering Talking to the media before his arrest Narain Singh was unrepentant and said that Lakhbir Singh had been punished for sacrilege He said that the accused in the Bargari sacrilege incident in Punjab were yet to be arrested but now if somebody will commit such a heinous crime he would be punished on the spotNarain Singh was given a robe of honour and a garland of currency notes by some people when he paid obeisance in the Amarkot Gurdwara before his arrestAccording to police Sarabjit Singh has claimed the involvement of a few more people in the gruesome killing which has sparked outrage and has triggered calls for action to clear the protest sites on Delhis borders where farmers have been camping since last November to press for the scrapping of the Centres three agri lawsFarmer union leaders however asserted that the incident will have no impact on the agitation and said they will upgrade security by installing CCTV cameras and increasing the number of volunteers at the protest sites The body of Lakhbir Singh a labourer from Punjabs Tarn Taran district was found on Friday tied to a barricade at the Singhu border with a hand chopped off and multiple wounds caused by sharpedged weaponsHours after the crime Sarabjit Sigh wearing the blue robes of the Nihang order claimed that he had punished the victim for desecrating a Sikh holy bookQuestioning his claim the victims wife Jaspreet Kaur and sister Raj Kaur said Lakhbir Singh had a deep respect for the holy Guru Granth Sahib He was a godfearing man who could not never think of desecrating a holy book Whenever he used to go to a Gurdwara he would pray for the wellbeing of his family and the society said Jaspreet KaurHe had no criminal record and there was no report of him being a bad character the victims family said and demanded a highlevel probe into the entire episode to bring out the truth Jaspreet and Raj Kaur said even if it is assumed for a moment that Lakhbir had done something wrong those who killed him in such a barbaric manner should have given him time to prove his innocence or they could have handed him over to the policeAt no stage could they be the deciding authority while running their own selfstyled court which pronounced punishment and then murdered him inhumanly Where does the law of land prevail here said his grieving sister His wife Jaspreet Kaur and three daughters aged 12 11 and eight years live in a small temporary house made of mud and bricks in village Cheema Kalan around 50 km away from the holy city of Amritsar His son passed away two years ago The family was barely managing two square meals a day when Lakhbir was alive and would work in the village fields or in the grain market of Tarn Taran district for his livelihoodWho will come forward to look after his family now and what about the future of his childrenwho will help them lamented his sister Raj Kaur Sonipats Deputy Superintendent of Police Virender Singh said the total number of accused in the crime could be more than fiveWe produced Sarabjit before the court The accused has been remanded in seven days police custody by the court he said over the phone The accused has pointed to the involvement of four more people in the case and taken their nameswe are conducting further investigations in this regard We have to make some recoveries from the arrested accused including the weapon used in the crime and the clothes he was wearing he saidEarlier on Friday in a video clip that surfaced on social media some Nihangs were seen standing around the victim with his severed left hand close to his head The group was heard accusing him of desecrating a Sikh holy book A case of murder was registered at the Kundli police station in Sonipat in connection with the lynching incidentPolitical parties across the board have condemned the incident and demanded a thorough probe Bahujan Samaj Party BSP chief Mayawati on Saturday said that the incident was extremely sad and shameful and demanded that the victims family be given compensationThe Congress had said that it was the governments responsibility to investigate the lynching while the BJP asserted that anarchic elements are using farmers for their politics The saffron party on Saturday hit out the opposition party for not raising the issue at the Congress Working Committee meeting BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia questioned if the opposition party stood with the Talibani mindset behind the killingFor the sake of petty and cheap vote bank politics opposition parties especially the Congress will maintain a deafening silence on this key issue They will not have the courage to call spade a spade because it does not suit their political narrative Bhatia said while also attacking farmer leader Rakesh Tikait for his reported remarks that organisers cannot be blamed for such an incidentAlso Read Singhu border killing Haryana Police detains one person in SonipatThe National Commission for Scheduled Castes on Friday asked the Haryana Police to take strict action against those behind the killing of the Dalit man at the farmers protest venue The Samyukta Kisan Morcha an umbrella body of farmer unions is spearheading the protests issued a statement on Friday distancing itself from the incident and said that it wanted to make it clear that both the parties to the incident the Nihang group and the victim have no relation with the MorchaBharatiya Kisan Union BKU which is leading the charge at Ghazipur on the DelhiUttar Pradesh border said on Saturday that more cameras would be installed and there shall be a change in the deployment of volunteers at the protest site in the wake of the Friday incident It has been decided now that such volunteers shall be deployed only by SKM at protest sites BKUs media incharge Dharmendra Malik told PTIIt was also decided that the groups or individuals who are participating in the movement but hold ideologies that are different from the SKMs policies shall be asked to vacate the protest sites or adopt the agendas of the farmers collective he added Harinder Singh Lakhowal general secretary of BKU Lakhowal alleged that the incident was a ploy to divert attention from the Lakhimpur Kheri incidentThey pick up one or two incidents and say you are growing violent We are not growing violent We have been consistently peaceful Its the governments tactics hoping that incidents like this will weaken the movement that ultimately it will disperse but is id not going to happen We will only grow stronger Our core value is of nonviolence farmer leader Kavitha Kuruganti of the Mahila Kisan Adhikar Manch saidHundreds of farmers from different parts of the country have been camping at the Delhi borders since November 26 last year demanding the repeal of the three new farm laws While the agitating unions have been expressing fear that the laws would do away with the Minimum Support Price system leaving farmers at the mercy of the corporations the government has been projecting them as major agricultural reforms Over 10 rounds of talks between the two sides have failed to break the deadlock The Supreme Court had stayed the implementation of the laws in JanuaryThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and 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