Akali leader, 4 aides booked for opening fire over land dispute

BATALA:The Batala police on Monday booked the Gurdaspur zila parishad vice-chairman and four others for opening fire on a rival group over a land dispute at Damodhar village, around 15 km from here.

Qila Lal Singh station house officer Rachpal Singh said the incident took place on April 29. Complainant Gursewak Singh told the cops that his family was cultivating a piece of land in the village for the past many years. They were engaged in a legal tussle with zila parishad vice-chairman and Akali leader Santok Singh over the land ownership.

“Although court ruled in our favour, the Batala sub-divisional magistrate intervened due to political pressure. We filled an application against it before the Gurdaspur deputy commissioner, who ordered status quo in our favour, following which we could cultivate wheat on that land,” he alleged.

Gursewak said when he and his family members went to the fields to work on April 29, Santok Singh and his aides reached there and opened fire on them. No one was injured in the incident. “The accused also broke the windshields of our car parked near the fields,” he alleged.

The police registered a case against Santok Singh, Dilbag Singh, Nishan Singh, Sartaj Singh and Joga Singh under Sections 336 (act endangering life or personal safety), 427 (mischief causing damage), 148 (rioting) and 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of the Arms Act. All of them are absconding.