Assailants promised to pronounce her ‘clean’

LUDHIANA: A day after the murder of Balwinder Kaur, who was accused of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib, it has emerged that the accused lured her by promising to take her to the Golden Temple for an apology at the Akal Takht and to pronounce her “clean” thereafter.

Balwinder was shot dead allegedly by Gurpreet Singh Jagowal of Amargarh in Sangrur and Nihal singh of Patiala outside Gurdwara Manji Sahib, Alamgir, on Tuesday morning.

Deputy commissioner of police, Dhruman Nimbale, said after the desecration incident, the woman was being treated as an outcast in her village, Ghawaddi. Police say main accused Jagowal is a member of Malerkotla-based Muslim-Sikh Front of Punjab. He is also the circle president of a radical political outfit.

Shehzaad Hussain, president of Muslim-Sikh Front of Punjab, said, Jagowal was not attending their sessions for 10-15 days. He had joined the organisation last year. Commissioner of police JS Aulakh said teams were out to nab the accused. CREMATION UNDER TIGHT SECURITY

Balwinder was consigned to flames at the cremation ground near Arora Cinema on Wednesday under tight police security. A high drama witnessed as the locals were opposed to cremation of an outsider in their area.

The police wanted to cremate the body on Tuesday evening as they feared a protest by the kin of the deceased. But the cremation couldn’t take place on Tuesday as post-mortem got delayed because doctors struggled to remove the bullet that was stuck in the spinal cord.