Father-son duo from Tarn Taran arrested; identify more suspects

CHANDIGARH : Police arrested two key absconders in the hooch tragedy, the father-son duo of Harjit Singh and Shamsher Singh, alias Shera, of Pandori Gola village in Tarn Taran. The total number of arrests in the case are 54 now with 37 in Tarn Taran, nine in Amritsar Rural and eight in Batala.

“On directives of chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been added to the FIRS against the kingpins, directly responsible for death of 121 persons across three districts,” said DGP Dinkar Gupta, adding that Harjit and Shamsher had also been booked on murder charges, apart from Kashmir Singh and Satnam Singh, alias Satta.

In addition, two FIRS have been registered under Section 216 (harbouring criminals) of the IPC; another 21 have been arrested in this connection. The DGP added that over 887 raids had been conducted since July 31, when the first death in the case were reported, in the three affected districts (303 in Tarn

Taran, 330 in Amritsar (Rural) and 254 in Batala.

“Amritsar (Rural) police nabbed Harjit, which has registered one FIR, his son was apprehended by Tarn Taran police, which has lodged three FIRS, as the district has a maximum of 84 deaths. Two FIRS have been registered in Batala, with 14 deaths. The coordinated raids that led to the arrest of the duo took place this morning,” he added.

DGP Gupta added that the two accused had confirmed disclosure of Satnam (also son of Harjit) that they had bought three drums of spurious liquor from Avtar Singh on July 27 at Pandori Gola. Harjit Singh paid Rs 15,000 to Avtar Singh around 15 days before the delivery, when the deal was settled, while another Rs 15,000 was paid to him on the day of the delivery. The duo have identified 13 more persons allegedly involved in the case and raids were being conducted to nab them, the DGP added.

State-wide raids as part of the crackdown on illicit liquor business, as ordered by the CM, are continuing with 116 more cases registered and 74 persons arrested in the past 24 hours.