Three Nihangs attack cigarette dealers and target “rescuers” in Kharar

The brazen, violent attack in broad daylight on the busy street was witnessed by passersby and passing commuters, but no one intervened.

Notably, this is the second incident of a sword attack by Nihangs in the past 48 hours.

Kharar police responded quickly and identified the accused as Gurwinder Singh and Amanjot Singh, both residents of Khooni Majra, and Jaspreet Singh of Pamaur, Fatehgarh Sahib, within hours of the incident. Both face attempted murder charges.

Anil Verma, one of the shopkeepers who was attacked, said his father, a septuagenarian, was sitting in their cigarette shop next to the bus stop when three Nihangs arrived there on a Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle and slapped his father without any provocation.

“When I rushed to help my father, they attacked me with sticks and sharp-edged weapons and also snatched packets of cigarettes and beedi ₹15,000 in cash, at the counter. As I ran to save myself, a Sikh man in a turban intervened and urged the Nihangs not to attack us. But they turned against him and attacked him with swords and other weapons, resulting in severe head injuries and profuse bleeding,” Verma alleged.

He claimed that the miscreants attacked two other shopkeepers and warned them not to sell tobacco products to avoid dire consequences.

Another shop owner, Nikhil, accused the Nihangs of causing loss of value ₹40,000 by throwing the cigarettes, beedi packets and other products from his shop into the drains.

“They threatened to set fire to our stores. They were not afraid of the law. We demand strict action against them,” he said.

CCTV footage from the scene showed three men wearing Nihang clothing attacking an unidentified Sikh man. The accused was seen hitting the victim on the head after his turban was thrown on the road, causing him to bleed.

After being alerted, Kharar police responded to the spot, recorded the statements of the victims and took them for medical examination.

“The accused have been identified and will be arrested soon. There is zero tolerance for hooligans and criminals. We also have videos showing the defendant abusing shopkeepers and a person who jumped in to save them. We have booked the accused for murder,” said DSP Karan Singh Sandhu.

All the accused face charges under sections 115 (voluntarily causing hurt to another person), 109 (attempt to murder), 126(2) (wrongful restraint) and 305(A) (whoever commits theft in a building, tent or ship, serving as a purpose) a human habitation or used for safekeeping of property), 3(5) (act by several persons) and 351 (2) (criminal intimidation) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita at Kharar Town Police Station.

Earlier on Wednesday, in Phase 3B2, two unidentified men dressed as Nihangs attacked a 53-year-old man with swords in traffic after they crashed their motorcycle into his car.

The victim, Harpreet Singh, a resident of Sector 70, sustained serious injuries on his arm.

In his complaint, he had told the police that the two bike-borne men hit his car at a traffic light near Chawla Hospital around 9.15 pm on Wednesday. An argument broke out in which the bikers attacked his car with swords and smashed the rear window.

In Phase 3B2, the victim tried to drive to his house but was chased by the attackers. They intercepted him again and hit his driver’s windshield and side window with swords, as he claimed. However, three days later, the defendants remain beyond the reach of the police.