New Delhi: An Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) sarpanch was shot dead by two unidentified assailants at a wedding celebration in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district Wednesday, drawing fresh criticism of the Bhagwant Mann government over its handling of law and order in the state.
Harbarinder Singh, 40, sarpanch of Thathiyan Mahanta village, was shot on the Tarn Taran-Harike road while attending the wedding function around 3 pm. Police said he succumbed to his injuries on the way to a hospital. Another person who tried to chase the bikers-assailants was injured in the crossfire and is being treated. His condition is stable.
Hours after the killing, Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav suspended two officers — SHO Gurvinder Singh of Sarahli police station and Patti Deputy Superintendent of Police (Tarn Taran) Jagbir Singh — for “the absence of sufficient preventive policing measures”, a police spokesperson said.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has directed the Deputy Inspector General of Police (Ferozepur range) Snehdeep Sharma and the Tarn Taran Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Surendra Lamba to “personally supervise” the probe, the spokesperson said.
The murder is the third direct fatal attack on an AAP functionary this year. Earlier this month, party functionary Satwinder Pal Singh, popularly known as Lucky Oberoi, was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Jalandhar.
Last month, former sarpanch Jarmal Singh of Valtoha Sandhuan village in Tarn Taran was killed at close range by an assailant while attending a wedding in Amritsar. A video of the shooting, circulated widely on social media, triggered a public debate over the state of law and order.
Amritsar police subsequently arrested five accused in that case, with DGP Yadav attributing the killing to Brazil-based gangster Prabhdeep Singh alias Prabh Dasuwal, who allegedly had a longstanding enmity with the former sarpanch and had previously targeted him as well.
On Wednesday’s killing, DIG Snehdeep Sharma pointed to personal enmity as the most likely motive. “The victim had never complained of any extortion or threats from any individuals. The family, as well, has not revealed any such angle to the crime, and prima facie it appears to have been committed due to a personal enmity or revenge angle,” Sharma told ThePrint.
SSP Lamba said the case was being investigated from all “possible angles” and that four teams had been constituted.
The Opposition moved quickly to attack the Mann government. Punjab’s Leader of Opposition Pratap Singh Bajwa wrote on X: “The cold-blooded murder of a sitting sarpanch at a wedding in Tarn Taran exposes the shocking collapse of law & order in Punjab. Under @BhagwantMann and @AAPPunjab government, gangsters roam free while the government stays busy with PR. Border districts are turning into crime zones and the state is being pushed into fear.”
The Congress leader added: “Punjab is paying heavily for this bloody ‘badlaav’,” referring to a term used by AAP to refer to its development agenda.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal also took aim at the Mann government, claiming that 25 murders were reported last month and that killings have continued through February.
“No place is safe—wedding palaces, courts, temples, gurdwaras, colleges—nothing! This is anarchy, not governance. Bhagwant Mann has no right to remain in the chair even for a single more day,” he said.
Asked about Opposition criticism, AAP spokesperson Baltej Pannu said Thursday that Punjab Police has already taken strict action against erring officers. “Opposition can keep making noise about law and order, but it is only the AAP government that launched a statewide campaign against gangsters,” Pannu told ThePrint. He was referring to the state’s ‘Gangstran Te Vaar’ campaign, launched this year to crack down on criminal syndicates and their networks.
AAP has been in power in the state since 2022.
(Edited by Prerna Madan)
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