Bathinda SAD worker among four booked

BATHINDA : Police have booked a Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) worker, who runs a ration depot in Lehra Khana village, his two sons and a nephew after a 55-year-old resident of the village, Bachan Singh, a bystander who was there to collect his ration, died in their scuffle with a Congress leader, Teja Singh.

The accused are depot holder Harjit Singh, his sons Amandeep Singh and Karamjit Singh and nephew Balbir Singh.

Sources say the trouble began when Teja, whose wife Manjit Singh, has been elected as a zila parishad member recently, arrived at the depot and started to instruct the depot holder on where to distribute the ration under the Atta-dal scheme. He was in the village to thank voters for their support.

Irked at Teja’s interference, the accused entered into an argument with him, during which one of them reportedly tried to drive away with his (Teja’s) car. In the melee, the car hit the bystander, Bhajan, who succumbed to injuries at a local hospital.

On Teja’s complaint, police booked the four men under sections 304A (causing death by negligence), 379B (theft), 279 (rash driving) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the IPC. Upset at the police action, SAD workers protested outside the Bhucho police post, claiming that a false case had been registered.

Bhucho police post in-chargej aswant Singh said, “The incident had nothing to do with the distribution of wheat. Teja, along with others, was on a thanksgiving tour in the village.”