New Delhi: The Punjab Police have rejected claims that a deadly attack in Batala’s Marri Pannwan village was linked to drug peddlers, saying the clash stemmed from a dispute over a mobile phone. The killing of Bikramjit Singh and injuries to two others had drawn scrutiny from the Union Home Ministry amid a political row over Punjab’s drug problem.
Hours after the incident snowballed into a major controversy over reports that the three were attacked by a group of drug peddlers, Batala Senior Superintendent of Police Mehtab Singh said that the dispute had originated over a mobile phone that belonged to another person in the village, Jagroop Singh.
Accused Prince and Kalu were known among villagers as thieves who stole mobile phones, sold drugs, and were involved in other illegal activities. In this case, Jagroop suspected Prince of stealing his phone, which led to a brawl. When they came to confront Jagroop, his neighbours stepped out leading to Bikramjit’s killing and injuries to Nishan Singh and Gurmukh Singh.
The violence came days after the daylight killing of anti-drug activist Parminder Singh Jhota in the state’s Mansa district, which had attracted widespread condemnation and outrage, especially from opposition leaders.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah attacked Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for failing to rein in the drug cartels in the state—an allegation refuted by the Aam Aadmi Party national convenor, Arvind Kejriwal, and Mann himself.
Hours after Shah said the Ministry of Home Affairs would seek details of the Bikramjit killing incident, the MHA sought a report from the Punjab Chief Secretary, K. A. P. Sinha. The MHA also despatched similarly worded letters over the killing of Jhota in Mansa and the alleged suicide of Gulzar Singh (who had confronted Punjab Finance Minister and Dirba MLA Harpal Singh Cheema over steps taken by the government to rein in drugs) in Sangrur district last month.
What does the FIR say?
In his statement, Batala SSP Singh said Bikramjit Singh had died of injuries from a sharp-edged weapon and that the police had registered an FIR under section 103 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, which deals with the offence of murder.
The FIR, a copy of which ThePrint has seen, was registered on the complaint of Nishan Singh, one of the injured, who was admitted to a Batala hospital. In his complaint, Nishan alleged that he was at his home with his family in the Marri Pannwan village when he heard abuses and threats being issued on the street outside, prompting him to step outside.
He said in the police complaint that he saw locals Jugraj Singh alias Kalu, Prince, along with two men with a machete, a stick, a sickle, and a knife in their hands. Meanwhile, he added, the trio of Bikramjit Singh, Jagroop Singh alias Gora and himself, also came out of their houses, and Prince and the people accompanying him confronted Jagroop Singh over a mobile phone.
Shortly after their arrival at the scene, Nishan submitted that a group of eight to 10 armed men arrived in a Swift car and on motorbikes.
“We, the residents of the locality, tried to save Jagroop Singh from them and pushed him back, at which time Prince challenged them and said that let them taste the cost of helping Jagroop Singh and that he should not escape today,” Nishan submitted in the police complaint.
Shortly after the warning by Prince (according to Nishan’s statement), the group of men allegedly started shooting with the intention of killing Jagroop Singh and Bikramjit Singh. As the situation escalated and more villagers rushed to the site of the incident, the assailants fled the scene, Nishan said.
In his police complaint, submitted from the hospital bed, Nishan Singh said the cause of the violence was a dispute between Prince and Jagroop over a mobile phone.
“The reason for the enmity is that on the night of 14 October, Prince had taken Jagroop’s mobile phone from the house and on the morning of 15 October, Jagroop had asked Prince to return his mobile phone. But Prince refused and started arguing with him. Due to this enmity, Prince had called unknown youths from outside to fight and injure Gurmukh Singh and me with the intention of killing Bikramjit, Jagroop, Nishan Singh and Gurmukh Singh, and killed Bikramjit Singh,” he further submitted.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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