Hindustan Times (Chandigarh)

Tript Bajwa fires salvo at EX-MLA Sekhri

- Vishal Sally

BATALA: During Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president and MP Sunil Jakhar’s recent visit to Batala, leaders’ infighting came to the fore, here.

Former MLA Ashwani Sekhri and other office bearers gave the event a miss.

Commenting on the absence of Congress office bearers, cabinet minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, who took the decision to hold a meeting in Batala, launched a salvo against Sekhri.

He said “Nobody can stop an MP to hold a meeting in his own constituen­cy. If anybody has doubts, he should clear it. Instead of indulging in infighting, we should collective­ly make efforts for the developmen­t of this town.”

Justifying the venue for meeting in the office of veteran Congress leader Jawahar Marwaha, he said “If he was unwilling to come to Jawahar’s office then where did he want us to organise the meeting? Did he want the meeting at the house of those BJP men, who have ruined Batala?”

About the possibilit­ies of Congress candidate, he said “If Agnihotri (a Hindu), can win from Taran Tarn, a sikh dominated area and Lodhinanga­l (a Jat Sikh) can win from Batala, a Hindu dominated area, then anything is possible.however, I don’t have any interest in contesting from Batala and Sekhri should not keep any such misunderst­anding,” he said.

Though Sekhri denied to counter Bajwa’s allegation­s, but he blamed him for interferin­g in his constituen­cy.

On his absence during Jakhar’s visit, Sekhri said that that he had a prior meeting fixed with Punjab chief minister captain Amarinder Singh in Chandigarh and moreover, he had not been informed about the visit.

On the issue of shifting the bus stand from inner city, Sekhri said, “If the bus stand is shifted, the business of more than 5,000 shopkeeper­s will be ruined.i will take up the matter with chief minister and will not let it happen.” GURUGRAM: The police on Tuesday ruled out that a personal security officer (PSO) shooting the wife and son of an additional district and sessions judge in the city last week had anything to do with his alleged conversion to another faith. However, the police still haven’t been able to figure out the motive.

The accused, 32-year-old Mahipal Singh, had earlier told the police that he had committed the crime as he was possessed by a spirit.

In a video shared on social media, the accused was seen yelling ‘shaitaan’ (devil) at Dhruv and his mother, after shooting at them in broad daylight near Arcadia Market in Sector 49.

Singh had also told investigat­ors that he had converted to Christiani­ty and used to spend several hours on the Internet surfing religious videos, prompting investigat­ors to probe if the accused had been religiousl­y motivated.

KK Rao, commission­er of police, Gurugram, said on Tuesday that the preliminar­y probe by a special investigat­ion team (SIT) had revealed that there was no religious angle or associatio­n to the crime.

“The earlier claims of him being mentally disturbed are false and there is no religious angle. The police are investigat­ing

ACCUSED, HAD EARLIER TOLD THE POLICE THAT HE HAD COMMITTED THE CRIME BECAUSE HE WAS POSSESSED BY A SPIRIT

to ascertain the motive behind the crime — whether it was spurred by rage after an altercatio­n or frustratio­n due to being asked to do menial chores,” Rao said.

The police said that the cyber cell could not corroborat­e the claims of the accused after a perusal of his recent online activity. A police officer privy to the investigat­ion said they did not find any evidence of the accused’s baptism.

The police has contacted eyewitness­es, who recorded the incident on Saturday on their cellphones and shared videos on social media, to record their statements.

On Saturday, head constable Mahipal, who was deputed as the PSO of additional sessions and district judge Krishan Kant since 2017, shot Kant’s wife, Ritu Garg (38), and son, Dhruv (18), and fled in the judge’s car . While Ritu succumbed to her injuries on Saturday night, her son continues to be critical.

After the incident, Mahipal called the judge and told him that he had shot them.

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