After the body of a man with a hand and a foot cut off was found at a farmers’ protest site in Haryana’s Sonipat, around 30 kilometres from Delhi, the Haryana Police claimed on Friday that an arrest would be made shortly.
“We’ve filed a complaint under section 302/34 of the IPC (murder charges under the Indian Penal Code). The crime site was reviewed by the forensic team. A post-mortem investigation is under underway. We have some suspect names, will make headway soon,” said senior Haryana Police officer Sandeep Khirwar.
“A man’s body was found mutilated and tied to a barricade at 5 a.m. today. We’ve gathered crucial evidence from the crime scene, and an arrest is on the way. A probe is on,” his colleague JS Randhawa said.
The disfigured body of a man who appeared to have been beaten to death was found tied to a metal barricade at a farmers’ protest location in Kundli near the Delhi-Haryana border on Friday, in a brutal event blamed on a group of Nihangs – a ‘warrior’ Sikh order.
Some Nihangs are seen standing while the man lies in a pool of blood on the ground with his chopped off left hand next to him in a video footage that has gone viral on social media sites, NDTV reported but the video’s validity cannot be verified by NDTV.
The Nihangs, who are known for their blue robes and spears, are heard in the video declaring that the man has been punished for desecrating a Sikh sacred book.
A group of Nihangs has claimed responsibility for the brutal killing after the victim allegedly attempted to desecrate the Sarbloh Granth, a holy book of the Sikhs, according to the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of farmer unions that is spearheading the protests at Delhi’s borders against three agriculture laws enacted by the Centre.
The group of Nihangs that allegedly killed the man was not part of the SKM’s rallies, according to senior farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohar, and harsh action should be taken against those involved. He alleged that the victim had been hanging out with the same Nihangs for a long time.
Lakhbir Singh, a labourer from Cheema Khurd village in Punjab’s Tarn Taran, was around 35 years old when his body was discovered tied to an overturned police roadblock near a stage set up by farmers demonstrating at the location for over ten months, according to the police.
(With inputs from NDTV.)
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The Chenab Times News Desk