New Delhi: The Moga district police in Punjab have launched a manhunt for three bike-borne men, one of whom fired at a group of migrant labourers in the town Tuesday.
“Multiple shots were fired in Khosa Jalal village, and one of the labourers, Ashok Kumar, got injured in his leg. Belonging to Bihar and working as a labourer in paddy fields, Kumar has since recovered and is out of danger,” Senior Superintendent of Police Ajay Gandhi told ThePrint.
He added that the bike-born assailants had been identified, and efforts are under way to arrest them as quickly as possible.
One of the assailants is believed to have recorded a video of the incident and uploaded it on Instagram, identifying the group as affiliated with the Davinder Bambiha gang and stating the reason behind the shootout.
“…the bullets fired at… Khosa Jalal village were by us, Ladi Bhalwan and Nirvair Singh. This is our protest against the people who came to Punjab and considered it their ancestral property,” the Instagram post purportedly put up by them states.
“These people come from outside and spoil the atmosphere of Punjab and do evil to the people of Punjab, as everyone must have seen in the past, how these people treated the children of Punjab, but no strict action was taken against these people/neither the families of those who raped the child were punished/nor was a large sum taken from the families of those who killed the child with a knife,” the post from a handle named Nirvair Singh reads.
While it is the first such crime against migrant labourers in the state in the recent past, they have previously come in the firing line by locals and vigilante groups, especially after the rape and murder of a five-year-old boy allegedly by a migrant worker in Hoshiarpur last September.
The incident led to a Punjabi versus ‘parvasi’ (migrant) battle in the state, with several village heads and vigilante groups banning migrant labourers in their areas.
In the video on Instagram, threats are also issued to sarpanches allegedly helping migrant workers secure an Aadhaar card and permission to stay locally to win votes.
“We want to tell you that these sarpanch members of Punjab are getting their Aadhaar cards and are giving them permission to stay for the sake of voting. In the coming time, if they are not driven out of any village or city, then tomorrow we will kill them and we will make a list of the hungry sarpanch members of the cities and take action,” the post adds.
“Let’s see if the rape brothers get shot in the leg or not… this is a warning to the drug smugglers of the Malwa belt. Your list has also been made, whether they are common people or our associates from the Bambiha group,” it says, concluding with the warning of “#stayalertbhaia”. Bhaia is a slang used for migrant labourers in Punjab.
An FIR has been filed in the case on the complaint of one Subodh Kumar, resident of Bihar’s Sitamarhi district. He told the police that he was coming out of a rice mill for lunch, accompanied by his cousin Ashok, when the firing took place. Both work at the mill.
Kumar states that two of the men fired at them.
“When we reached Sri Durga Feed Factory, a black motorcycle with three young boys wearing cloth on their faces came from the Moga side. When they approached us, the two boys sitting behind on the motorcycle opened fire with the weapons they had in their hands with the intention of killing me and Ashok Maji. As the bullets hit our feet, we fell to the ground,” says the FIR, seen by ThePrint.
Kumar said their contractor came to the rescue and arranged for them to be taken to the Civil Hospital, Moga, where the doctor bandaged his left foot and discharged him. Ashok was taken to Sri Guru Gobind Singh Medical College Hospital, Faridkot, for further treatment.
(This is an updated version of the report)
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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