M A I N   N E W S

Vital clues to abduction of SP’s daughter
Our Correspondent

Fatehabad, May 24
The police has got some vital clues in the abduction case of the four-year-old daughter of the district police chief, Mr Hanif Qureshi. The police here is now zeroing in on a criminal family of Kata Kheri village in the district. The local police has registered a case under Section 364 of the IPC.

The child, Shifa, was kidnapped by some unidentified persons from the local mini secretariat area at about 8 pm last evening when the SP’s wife, Mrs Shamim Qureshi, was on her routine evening stroll. The miscreants hit Mrs Qureshi on her head with some blunt weapon and snatched the girl from her. They fled on a Jeep.

The police all over the state was alerted in the evening and police nakas were erected throughout the district. The police, according to sources, found an abandoned Jeep at Kata Kheri village at about 11 pm. The Jeep’s engine was hot indicating that the vehicle had been abandoned here after a long drive. The police also found that residences of the relatives of a criminal family of the village were locked. The family had an armed confrontation with the police on May 13 this year when the police went to arrest a proclaimed offender, Khem Singh, from there. Khem Singh, alias Khema, was wanted by the police at several places in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan in several criminal cases, including dacoity. He had come to the village to attend the marriage of his sister. On a tip-off, the police raided the village but the kin of Khema attacked the police party and injured some policemen. They also damaged the police jeep. Police reinforcement was later sent to the village but Khema had managed to escape by then. The police had rounded up six persons including three women, and cases had been registered against 15 to 20 persons in this regard. The six arrested persons are on judicial remand till May 29.

The police suspected that the same family was involved in the kidnapping incident. Meanwhile, in the early hours today, the police got a major breakthrough when a person was arrested while he was trying to in his Jeep by breaking a police naka on the local Majra road. The person, later identified as Surjeet, a brother of Khema, abandoned his Jeep and escaped in to the residential area in the local Rajiv Gandhi park area. He tried to hide himself in a house but was arrested by the police. The police interrogated Surjeet for several hours but he proved to be a hard nut to crack. But when the police mounted pressure, he reportedly broke down and revealed some vital information to the police. Though the police officers and their juniors are tight-lipped about the action being taken in the matter, a strong contingent of the police has been sent to conduct raids at undisclosed places. The SP himself has also left with the police party. The sources said the raiding teams had left for some place in Uttar Pradesh.

The city police station, meanwhile, has registered an FIR against three brothers of Kata Kheri village. The FIR registered under Section 364 of the IPC, has been registered on the complaint of Head Constable Lal Singh. The police has named Khem Singh, alias Khema, Surjeet Singh and Malkiat Singh in this connection.