Man shot dead, brother hurt over land dispute in Rangarh
Amritsar, December 15
A man was shot dead and another injured after several armed persons attacked them at Rangarh village falling under the Gharinda police station here on Thursday.
A dispute over a piece of (75 yards) land was stated to be the reason behind the incident. The police have arrested five of the suspects and raids were on to nab other suspects. Senior police officials headed by Superintendent of Police Jugraj Singh and DSP Attari Gurinderpal Singh Nagra reached the spot and carried out investigations.
The deceased were identified as Manjit Singh, alias Laddi. He had sustained a bullet injury in the chest while his brother Bikramjit Singh suffered a bullet injury in the thigh. He was currently under treatment at a private hospital.
The police have booked 12 persons on charges of murder, attempt to murder and criminal trespass besides Arms Act. Among those booked included sarpanch of the Rangarh village Nirvail Singh, his wife Kulwinder Kaur and his two sons Vishal Singh and Jashan Singh. Others were identified as Sukhwant Singh, Satnam Singh, Simran Singh, Amarbir Singh, Karamjit Singh, Baaz Singh, Suba Singh and Angrej Singh, all residents of the same village.
SP Jugraj Singh said police teams acted promptly and arrested Vishal Singh, Baaz Singh, Simran Singh, Angrej Singh and Kulwinder Kaur in the case. He said raids were on to nab the remaining suspects. The police had also recovered the weapon used in the crime.
Shamsher Singh, son of the injured Bikramjit Singh, said his father was a respectable man in the village and people used to approach him for their works. He was also an aspirant for the post of sarpanch of the village. He said Kuldeep Singh of the village was known to the family and used to visit their house regularly. He said he had a land dispute with Hardeep Singh of the village.
He said yesterday Kuldeep Singh along with Harjit Singh and several other villagers gathered at their house as Hardeep along with village Sarpanch Nirvail Singh indulged in acts of hooliganism in the village on Wednesday night while threatening to forcibly grab Kuldeep Singh’s land.
Yesterday morning they went to Hardeep Singh’s house and expressed resentment over the incident. He said Hardeep started abusing and arguing with them. He said Hardeep’s neighbour Karamjit Singh called Nirvail Singh and his accomplices on the spot who challenged them and shouted to teach them a lesson for grabbing the land.
He said Karamjit fired at them which hit Manjit Singh’s chest while a bullet hit Bikramjit’s thigh. Manjit’s fell on the ground while the victims ran here and there to save themselves. The accused also barged into their house and ransacked it and also damaged a vehicle (Bolero).
Manjit and Bikramjit were rushed to hospital where the former succumbed to his injuries.
