5 held for attacking sarpanch candidate

Police claimed to have cracked a case in which a sarpanch candidate was injured in an attack by unknown miscreants in Bagrian village of Amargarh sub-district on Friday afternoon.

Five of 10 suspects who attacked former Bagrian sarpanch Paramjit Singh while he was putting up his banners at the village’s bus stops along with his supporters were arrested as they tried to leave the area on Saturday. Police said the suspects were Akashdeep Singh, Gurpreet Singh Guri, Harmanpreet Singh, Manpreet Singh Vicky and Arjanpal Singh Aran.

Although the police have not yet clarified the course of events that led to the sharp weapon attack, preliminary investigations revealed that at least five other accomplices were involved in the incident.

SSP Gagan Ajit Singh said former sarpanch Paramjit Singh, who was also contesting for the post of sarpanch in the subsequent election, was seriously injured in an attack in which the attackers used axes, swords and rods.

He said after registering an attempt to murder case against unknown assailants, the district police had deputed police officers led by Amargarh DSP Davinder Singh Sandhu, DSP (I) Satish Kumar, CIA in-charge Harjinder Singh and Amargarh SHO Gurpreet Kaur to investigate the case investigate.

The SSP said: “After corroborating fragments of evidence collected through examination of CCTV footage and witnesses, our police officers identified the assailants who had come with grimacing faces and were able to arrest them from different locations.”

He said the other suspects in the case would be arrested soon.