Murder of ex-sarpanch’s husband in Ludhiana: SAD leader, supporter sentenced to life imprisonment
Ten other accused were named in the FIR, of which five have been acquitted, two have been declared POs and three died during the course of trial
More than ten years after the brutal murder of the husband of the former sarpanch of Bahadurke village, the court of additional sessions judge Manoj Kumar has sentenced two accused in the case to life imprisonment.
The court convicted SAD leader Baljinder Singh alias Gogi and his supporter Guriqbal Singh alias Vicky Sekhon, under Sections 302, 148 and 149 of Indian Penal Code for the murder of Gurwinder Singh alias Bunty Bajwa.
There were a total of 12 accused in the case, three of whom died during the trial and two – Navjeet and Karanveer Singh - have been declared proclaimed offenders.
Five others accused, namely Buta Singh, Jaspreet Singh, Bikramjit Singh, Jaswant Singh and Gagandeep Singh were acquitted after the prosecution failed to prove the charges against them. Three accused -Amardeep Singh, Gurdev Singh and Davinder Singh - died during the course of trial and proceedings against them were hence dropped.
On June 10, 2012, Gurwinder Singh, a supporter of then independent candidate contesting MC elections, Gurdip Singh Bittu, and husband of former sarpanch of Bahadurke village, was shot dead by supporters of SAD candidate Baljinder Singh Gogi at Bajigar Basti while civic polls were underway. On the day of the murder, Gurwinder Singh and his nephew Jaspal Singh were going from Bahadurke to Jalandhar Bypass in their Bolero vehicle. As they reached near Bajigarh Basti Karabara at about 1.30 pm, they noticed two SUVs coming from the opposite side.
The prosecution stated that the accused alighted from their vehicle, armed with weapons and Vicky Sekhon hit the windshield of the car with a baseball bat.
Then Baljinder Singh and Karanveer Singh pulled Gurwinder outside the vehicle and Karanveer Singh (PO) fired a shot, which hit him in the stomach.
As MC elections were being conducted that day, there were polling booths at some distance. The remaining accused then fired in the air following which all of them fled. Police later booked 12 people, two of whom were never arrested.
The testimony of victim’s nephew, who was with his uncle at the time of murder, proved crucial to the case as he categorically deposed to the court that when they reached near Bajigarh Basti Karabara, the accused alighted from their vehicle and fired at them.
Jaspal testified that about one year prior to the incident, two of the accused, Karanveer Singh and Gurdev Singh, had indulged in a violent spat with Bajwa over the latter’s political inclination. Some relatives intervened and tried to bring them to a compromise, to which, Bunty did not agree. Moreover, the deceased was unarmed at time of incident and the accused took advantage of that.
Incidentally, police had given clean chit to Gurdev Singh (now deceased) and Vicky Sekhon during the inquiry. As per the counsel of the accused, DSP Gurbans Singh Bains had in his testimony stated that during inquiry, Gurdev and Sekhon were found not involved in the crime.
“The complainant and eyewitness are clearly stating that these suspects committed the offence, then it is not the domain of any inquiry officer to declare any person innocent or guilty. It is the domain of the court and the court is to decide on the basis of evidence whether any person is guilty, or not. Therefore, the findings of the inquiry officer declaring Vicky Sekhon and Gurdev Singh, innocent in this case are of no use,” said the court adding that the murder was committed in most unjust and cruelmanner.