Abohar Police backtrack on June 8 claim, FIR says both alleged accused youths shot dead by associates
On June 7, Abohar New Wear Well owner Sanjay Verma was shot dead by 3 motorcycle-borne men outside his showroom. After which the accused fled from the spot in a car. The incident of killing a big businessman of Abohar in this way filled people with anger against the administration and the government.
On June 8, Jaspreet Singh and Ram Rattan were taken into police custody, whom Ferozepur Range DIG Harmanbir Singh Gill and Fazilka SSP Gurmeet Singh accused in a video statement of helping and giving a lift to the 3 accused who fled the scene after Sanjay Verma’s murder.
According to him, during interrogation, both of them confessed to hiding the murder weapon and the clothes of the attackers near Pir Tibba, about 1.5 km from Abohar.
DIG Gill claimed that a police team led by Abohar DSP (City) Sukhwinder Singh took the suspects to the spot for recovery. Where the alleged accomplices of the accused were already present, they opened fire to free the accused. Both of them died in the retaliatory action.
On June 8, as soon as the news of the death of the two persons related to the Abohar murder went viral, several senior leaders of the ruling party of Punjab promoted this encounter as an achievement of the government through social media and several media houses of Punjab published this news on a large scale.
However, on the same day, some social workers and journalists had raised questions about the encounter. Manik Goyal took the story forward by posting a post after which the family of one of the slain youth came forward and alleged that their The boy was arrested from his house at around 1-2 am by about 2 dozen people, the video of which they shared.
The FIR registered by the Punjab Police in connection with the death of the two accused has once again raised questions on the entire matter. According to the FIR, when the police party took Jaspreet Singh and Ram Rattan to the place indicated by the accused to recover weapons, two unidentified accomplices of the accused started firing from the bushes, during which the attackers shot and killed Jaspreet Singh and Ram Rattan. A policeman was injured during this attack. After the police retaliated, the attackers escaped.
As soon as the copy of the FIR came to light, opposition parties have started raising serious questions on the ruling party, the government and its leaders.