23-year-old man killed in Tarn Taran hate crime; 5 booked

A 23-year-old man was killed allegedly by family members of a woman with whom he had a relationship, police said on Monday.

The deceased was identified as Ranjit Singh of Kotli Wasawa Singh village, falling under the Bhikhiwind sub-division. His body was found in a farmhouse of the village.

Police have identified the accused as the woman’s father Jaspal Singh alias Jassa, mother Kulwinder Kaur, grandfather Sukhchain Singh, grandmother Sukhwinder Kaur and one Amarjit Singh of the same village.

All accused have been booked under Sections 302 (murder), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on the complaint of the deceased’s mother Jasbir Kaur, 50.

In a statement in Khemkaran police station, Jasbir Kaur, a widow, said she has two sons—Harpreet Singh and Ranjit Singh. “While the elder son, Harpreet, has been in England for the last four years, Ranjit has been working as a farmer. Ranjit was having an affair with one of our relative’s daughter who used to frequent our house,” said Jasbir.

She added that around 15 days ago, the woman’s father along with some others threatened to kill my son. “They also snatched my son’s mobile phone. On Saturday around 4:30 pm, my son went somewhere on his motorcycle but didn’t return. We looked for him everywhere, but to no avail,” she revealed.

“On Sunday, around 7:30 pm, we found Ranjit’s body in a farmhouse, situated around 3 kms from our farmhouse. We suspect Ranjit was killed by the accused either by strangulation or with a poisonous substance.”

Sub-inspector (SI) Harjit Singh of Khemkaran police station, who is investigating the case, said they have registered a case against the accused and raids are on to nab them. He said the victim’s body has been sent for post-mortem.