4 of drug smugglers’ family, driver hacked to death in Tarn Taran
›The bodies were found in five separate rooms of the house. The accused, however, did not harm the four children of the family.
JAGJIT SINGH WALIA, SP
KAIRON (TARN TARAN): Four members of a family involved in drug smuggling and their driver were hacked to death by some unidentified persons at their house in Kairon village in Patti sub-division of Tarn Taran in the wee hours of Thursday.
Tarn Taran is the worst drughit district in the state.
The deceased were identified as Brij Lal, alias Dhattu, 60, his son Daljit Singh, alias Bunty, 25, two daughters-in-law Amandeep Kaur, 24, and Jaspreet Kaur, 28, and Gursahib Singh, alias Sabha, 35, the driver.
Police said Lal and his four drug addict sons had been involved in peddling in the area and have nearly 50 cases registered against them. Lal’s wife Ranjit Kaur, who died on May 22 this year in Amritsar central jail, was also arrested three months ago in a drug case. Lal’s two sons Paramjit Singh, alias Pumma, 24, and Bakshish Singh, alias Sonu, 30 have been undergoing treatment at a drug de-addiction centre in the district for the last one month, said police.
The bodies were found lying in pools of blood in five separate rooms of the house. All victims were attacked in the neck with sharp-edged weapons, said cops. They suspect the role of more than five accused in the killings.
The accused, however, did not harm the four children of the family --- Amandeep’s two daughters, Pari, 5, and Jasmeet, 2, and Jaspreet’s son Amarjit Singh,5, and daughter Khushi, 1. They were sleeping with their mothers at the time of the incident, said police
The killings came to light at 7 am when Pari rushed to her neighbour’s house and told them about the incident. SSP Dhruv Dahiya and SP (investigation) Jagjit Singh Walia were subsequently informed and they reached the spot.
“I got a call from the police around 7:30 am. When I reached the house, I found around 1 kg gold jewellery and Rs 5 to 7 lakh cash missing,” said Lal’s elder sister Kamlesh.
Lal’s only daughter, Sarabjit Kaur, who is married in Amritsar, said, “On Wednesday, I got a call from Amandeep and she informed me that my brothers Daljit and Gurjant were fighting with their father for money to buy drugs.”
Police have booked Gurjant and five unidentified persons under IPC sections 302 (murder), 450 (house trespass), 148 (armed with deadly weapon) and 149 (every member of the unlawful assembly) on the complaint of one Nishan Singh, who said that one of the children told him that her uncle (Gurjant) was accompanying the accused.
SP Walia, however, said Gurjant’s role was being investigated and they were trying to ascertain the identity of the other accused.