Sonipat: A court here on Saturday remanded Sarabjit Singh, arrested in connection with the lynching of a man at the farmers’ protest site at Singhu border, in police custody for seven days, with the accused pointing to the involvement of a few more people in the gruesome killing.
The body of Lakhbir Singh, a labourer from Punjab’s Tarn Taran district, was found on Friday tied to a barricade at the Delhi-Haryana border where the anti-farm law protesters gave been camping, with a hand chopped off and multiple wounds caused by sharp-edged weapons, a gruesome incident that was blamed on a group of Nihangs.
A senior police official of Sonipat police said that while seeking Sarabjit’s custody, police submitted before the court that they have to make certain recoveries from the arrested accused.
The official said that Sarabjit has named four more people during interrogations while pointing to their involvement in the incident.
We produced Sarabjit before the court. The accused has been remanded in seven days’ police custody by the court, Sonipat’s Deputy Superintendent of Police, Virender Singh said over the phone.
The accused has pointed to the involvement of four more people in the case and taken their names…we are conducting further investigations in this regard. We have to make some recoveries from the arrested accused including the weapon used in the crime and the clothes he was wearing, he said.
A second arrest was made on Saturday in connection with the lynching of a Dalit man at a farmers’ protest site at the Singhu border, police said.
Narain Singh, belonging to the Sikhs’ Nihang order, was arrested by the Amritsar Rural police at Amarkot village in Amritsar district, they said.
On Friday, Sarabjit Sigh was the first person to be arrested in connection with the case.
A court in Sonipat on Saturday remanded him to police custody for seven days.
Shortly after being taken into custody, Narain Singh claimed that he had surrendered before the police.
He claimed that before coming to Amritsar, he informed the SSP Amritsar (Rural) on a call that he wanted to surrender. Singh claimed that he had asked the SSP to allow him to visit the Akal Takht but police took him into custody at Amarkot village near Jandaila town, 25 km away from Amritsar city.
Before his arrest, talking to the media, Narain Singh said that Lakhbir Singh, who was lynched, had been “punished” allegedly for sacrilege.
He said that the accused of the Bargari sacrilege incident in Punjab had not yet been arrested but now if somebody were to commit such a heinous crime, they would be punished on the spot.
Paramjit Kaur, the wife of Narain Singh, was present when he was taken into police custody.
Kaur said that she was “proud” of her husband as “he has punished the guilty person responsible for sacrilege of the Guru Granth Sahib. If someone commits such a heinous crime, now I will punish him.”
Many Sikh outfits honoured Narain Singh with a robe of honour and even garlanded him with currency notes when he paid obeisance in the Amarkot Gurdwara.
Later, addressing the media, SSP Amritsar (Rural) Rakesh Kaushal said, “We had specific information about Narain Singh, who was coming to Amarkot village, and his plan to visit the Akal Takht Sahib.”
“Working on the basis of these inputs, his entire village was cordoned off. The heavy police deployment forced him to surrender. He agreed to surrender before the police at the village gurdwara where he was later arrested,” the SSP said.
The officer said that since the crime was committed at the Singhu border, the police station concerned in Haryana was informed and police were reaching Amritsar to take custody of the accused.
During the SSP’s press conference, Narain Singh was allowed to share his viewpoint with the media and he said he was among those to “punish” Lakhbir Singh for allegedly desecrating the holy book.
The body of Lakhbir Singh, a labourer from Punjab’s Tarn Taran district, was found on Friday tied to a barricade at the Delhi-Haryana border, where the anti-farm law protesters have been camping, with a hand chopped off and multiple wounds caused by sharp-edged weapons.
Hours after the macabre crime, Sarabjit Sigh, wearing the blue robes of the Nihang order, claimed that he had “punished” the victim for “desecrating” a Sikh holy book.
Other Nihangs had claimed he had “surrendered” to police, while police had later said that Sarabjit Singh, who hails from Gurdaspur district, has been arrested in the case.
Earlier on Friday, in a video clip that surfaced on social media, some Nihangs were seen standing around the injured man with his severed left hand close to his head. The group was heard accusing him of desecrating a Sikh holy book.
The video showed the Nihang group asking the badly injured man, who is pleading with them in Punjabi, where he had come from and who sent him. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had pm Friday held a meeting with Home Minister Anil Vij and senior police officers, directing strict action against those found guilty.
Back in his Tarn Taran village, Singh’s family was in shock and said he could never desecrate a holy book.
A case of murder was registered at the Kundli police station in Sonipat in connection with the lynching incident.
Also read: ‘He was running with a Sikh holy book’: The ‘crime’ for which Sikh man was lynched & hacked