Partap Singh Bajwa calls on families of slain Nakodar trader, his gunman

Jalandhar, December 12

Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa met the family members of slain cloth merchant Timmy Chawla and Constable Mandeep Singh in Nakodar and Kotli Gazran village of Shahkot, respectively, here on Monday.

Give job, adequate compensation to kin

Besides ensuring swift justice in the case, the state government should provide suitable jobs to at least one member of the affected families and announce adequate compensation as well for them. — Partap Singh Bajwa, Leader of opposition

He was accompanied by Phillaur Congress MLA Vikramjit Chaudhary, Phagwara MLA Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal and former minister Amarjit Singh Samra. Congress leaders called on both the families to express their condolences, days after Timmy and Mandeep were gunned down by four assailants in the main bazaar of Nakodar last Wednesday. A businessman, Timmy was given police protection after he received extortion calls from gangsters.

After meeting the families, Bajwa said it was unfortunate that both Timmy and Mandeep were shot dead in the main market of Nakodar city. He demanded swift justice in the case and said the government should provide suitable jobs to at least one member of their families. Both the victims had small children who need care in the absence of their fathers, he said, adding that the government should give adequate compensation and jobs to their family members.

Criticising law and order in the state, he said such incidents were happening every day all over the state, but despite the continuous spate of murders over the last several months, the state government was in deep slumber and had a casual attitude towards the murders. The gangsters, he said, had become so emboldened that they were choosing and executing their targets at sheer will with no fear of police and law.

The Qadian MLA further said after so many targeted killings in broad daylight, the entire Punjab was gripped by fear and everyone was living with a sense of insecurity. “People are now remembering the decades of 1980s and 1990s, when militancy was at peak. They are wondering if they are the next on the hit list of gangsters. We have been warning the government on law and order from day one as Punjab is a border and sensitive state, but our cautions have fallen on deaf ears. I don’t know how many precious lives need to be lost before Bhagwant Mann takes serious action,” he said.