Injured in assault, Cong man accuses cops of bias

Thursday, 15/01/2015

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AMRITSAR: Five days after being shot at, Congress worker Gurbaaz Singh is still waiting for cops to record his statement.

It was on January 9 that he was brought to a local private hospital with six bullet wounds in the legs and arms.

Talking to mediapersons here on Wednesday, Gurbaaz’s father Rasal Singh, a resident of Dhode village in Tarn Taran district, said, “No cop has come to record our statement. The reason: we have been with the Congress all these years. We suspect that our Akali opponents from the village are behind the shooting.”

Rasal claimed that on January 9, unidentified persons came to their house and opened fire on Gurbaaz. This is not the first attack on Gurbaaz. He was assaulted with sharp-edged weapons about six months ago.

“The people involved in that attack were from Dessa Singh’s family, with which we have an old enmity as they are Akalis,” Rasal said, showing a copy of the FIR which was registered then.

Rasal claimed that they had to settle for a compromise after Dessa’s family got a cross-case registered against them. An Akali MLA helped their rivals in that case, he alleged, adding that their licensed .12-bore gun has been with the police since then.

A former Congress leader of their area, Tejpreet Singh Peter, had made representations on the family’s behalf before the police for the return of the weapon. Despite the threat to Rasal’s family, neither has the gun been returned nor any protection provided to the family, said Peter, who was also present at the hospital.

“I requested for a meeting with the senior superintendent of police (SSP) after the January 9 incident, but he has refused to meet us. Barring a visit to the spot, no one from the Khalra police station has come to record the victim’s statement, even though a case of attempt to murder has been registered against unidentified persons,” said Peter. He demanded immediate protection for the family, adding that he would approach the high court if required.

When contacted, SSP Manmohan Kumar claimed that the victim had refused to get his statement recorded by the police officer who had visited him in hospital.

“A probe into the case is on, but Rasal Singh’s family has not been cooperative,” he added.