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INLD candidate booked for driver’s murder
Sunit Dhawan
Tribune News Service

Rajthal (Hisar), February 4
Thousands of persons today assembled in the village to attend the cremation of Kulbir Singh, who fell prey to poll violence yesterday. Kulbir, who was driving the car of Congress candidate Randhir Singh Dhira, was shot dead near Mirchpur village in the Barwala constituency of the district.

Another son killed

Mr Tek Ram’s eyes are filled with tears as he talks to this correspondent. Sitting among fellow villagers in front of his house after the cremation of his son, Kulbir Singh, he recalls that he had lost his another son in last February.

“It was the same month last year…Kulbir’s brother was killed in a road mishap,” is all he manages to say. While Kulbir was unmarried, his two brothers are in the Army. One of them is on election duty in Bihar and another has gone for a training course. Both of them could not attend his cremation. Call it constraint of service or matter of destiny.

The Narnaund police has registered a murder case against the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) candidate for the Barwala Assembly seat Umed Lohan, who is also the president of the youth wing of the state INLD, in this regard. Kuldeep Kapdo, a relative of Lohan, and three other accomplices of the accused have also been booked for murder.

The post-mortem report cites “head injury” as the cause of death. The pellets found inside the head of the deceased have been handed over to the police. They will be sent to a forensic laboratory for examination.

On the other hand, Umed Lohan lodged a complaint at the Narnaund police station, alleging that Mr Randhir Singh and his aides had abused him and the deceased tried to run over him and his supporters.

In his complaint, Lohan also alleged that Dhira snatched the carbine of his security guard and opened fired at him and his friends, Anand, Raj Kumar, Satbir and Rakesh. The police has registered a case on his complaint.

However, Mr Jaivir Singh, security guard of Mr Randhir Singh, while talking to The Tribune categorically denied this allegation. Jaivir, who is also an eyewitness to the case, asserted that no shot had been fired from his carbine. “Mr Randhir Singh ran to save his life and I followed him,” he maintained.