Dhaliwal to meet Himachal CM soon in NRI couple assault case

GS Paul

Amritsar, June 17

The Himachal CM’s office has acknowledged and assured to fix an appointment shortly in response to the letter written by the NRI Affairs Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal pertaining to the Punjabi-Spanish couple assault in Khajjiar (Dalhousie) recently.

Dhaliwal has written a letter to Himachal CM Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu demanding thorough investigation and stern action against the culprits.

It was on Dhaliwal’s intervention that a zero FIR was lodged with the Amritsar rural police.

Dhaliwal said that the copy of the FIR has been sent to the Sultanpur police station in Chamba. “We have been communicated that a meeting would be fixed with the Himachal CM soon. The zero FIR will be followed up till its logical conclusion,” he said.

On the other hand, the family members of a Punjabi-Spanish couple who faced physical assault while on their trip to Khajjiar denied the statement of Himachal police that the altercation took place on another occasion, not with the parking lot staff members.

SP Chamba Abhishek Yadav’s statement on the social media went viral in which he stated that as per the information available, the three tourists, including the NRI couple from Amritsar, visited Khajjiar where they were engaged in some hand-reading activity when they had arguments with the locals leading to a physical clash.

The SP also maintained that no formal complaint has been received about the incident yet. He said that the police had intervened after receiving information about the quarrel following which the tourists were brought to the Sultanpur police station, but they refused to file any complaint or get the medical examination done. He said that their statement too was recorded about their refusal to proceed for any police case.

The victim Kanwaljeet Singh, along with his Spanish wife Yolanala Garcia Gozzales and brother Jobanjeet Singh, were on a vacation trip to Dalhousie and Khajjiar when they were allegedly assaulted by the parking contractor and his men on June 11.

Jobanjeet Singh, on whose complaint a zero FIR has been lodged with the Amritsar police, straightaway denied the SP’s statement.

He said that he did the hand-reading of his old acquaintance who by chance met him at Khajjiar, yet it had nothing to do with the physical assault by the parking contractor and others. He claimed that the parking contractor threatened them referring to the slapping incident of MP Kangana Ranaut at Chandigarh airport by a CISF staff member.

“The Chamba police has been shielding its local residents who were involved in attacking us without any provocation. My brother Kanwaljit Singh had suffered head injuries and suffered a broken arm after he was attacked with a sharp-edged rod. We chose to drive out of the situation as the police were favouring the accused,” he said.