Cong councillor Bhatia says attack was preplanned
Party workers threaten to start an indefinite protest if accused not arrested by Sunday
AMRITSAR: A day after a 65-yearold Congress councillor, Jeet Singh Bhatia, was assaulted by two unidentified persons at Golden Avenue locality here, Congress workers sat on dharna near Partition Museum demanding the arrest of the accused, on Saturday.
Bhatia who is reportedly close to cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu was slapped near his residence. The video of the incident was shared widely on the social media platforms.
As per Bhatia, four women and four men had come to him to complain about the contaminated water being supplied in Maqboolpura area. “While I was talking about the issue, two of them, who had covered their faces, slapped me asking me when will the issue be resolved?” he had said.
Bhatia said, “It was a preplanned attack and they were hired to tarnish my image. After they are arrested, the person behind the assault will be revealed.”
On Saturday, hundreds of Congress workers and shopkeepers under the banner of Wholesale Cloths Merchant Association protested against the issue and shouted slogans against Punjab Police.
While addressing the protest, Bhatia said, “Police have identified the accused as Navraj Singh aka Harry of Tarn Taran road, Mohna Pehalwan and Kahno of Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar, and Tidda of Majitha road. However, they have failed to arrest the accused.”
He said, “Strict action should be taken against the accused so that such incidents will not happen in future. If they are not arrested till Sunday, we will launch indefinite protest from Monday.”
The protesters also blocked the road from 10 am till 1pm leading to traffic jam, following which they were appeased by additional deputy commissioner of police (Adcp-city1) Jagjit Singh Walia and assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Manjit Singh with the assurance of arresting the culprits ‘soon’. the protest was lifted at around 1pm.
ADCP Walia said, “The accused are absconding and raids are being conducted to nab them.”
Police sources said that the attack was politically motivated. A senior police officer on the condition of anonymity said that Bhatia was assaulted on the instructions of a Congress leader of Amritsar. He also said, “The accused have been approaching to their leaders for evading arrest.”
As per the police sources, the accused — four by name and few unidentified—were booked under Sections 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), 379 (punishment for theft), 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 25-27-54-59 of the Arms Act at Maqboolpura police station.