Booked in farmer suicide case, arhtiya feted by Congress MLA
CONTROVERSY Under ₹6lakh debt, Tek Singh of Jeond village had ended his life on Aug 9
BATHINDA:For a government that claims to be caring for farmers and trying hard to waive their debt, the ruling party, Congress’ Rampura Phul MLA Gurpreet Singh Kangar certainly is setting a bad example.
At Saturday’s Dussehra function, Kangar honoured an arhtiya (commission agent), Suresh Bahia, accused of abetting the suicide of a farmer, Tek Singh, 52, in Jeond village. A Bathinda court had rejected arhtiya’s anticipatory bail plea on August 31.
Incidentally, farm organisations have also been protesting against police not arresting the accused.
The suicide note of Tek, who ended his life on August 9 and owed around ₹6 lakh, had mentioned that Bahia had been harassing him over non-payment of debt. The note also mentioned that Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh hasn’t fulfilled the debt waiver commitment. Police have failed to arrest Bahia to date.
“Bahia has political patronage and is thus not being arrested,” said Shingara Singh Mann, leader of BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan).
When contacted, Kangar admitted that the arthiya was honoured at the event. “Police are conducting an inquiry. The farmer had admitted before court that he had loan outstanding to Bahiya and that there was no harassment.”
Phul DSP Jaswinder Singh said Bahia had not been arrested as the police were inquiring into the case.