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Clash over land dispute: HC grants anticipatory bail to Cong leader Zira, asks him to join probe
The Zira police in Ferozepur had booked the Congress leader with eight others in a case registered for an attempt to murder, criminal trespass and rioting related to a land dispute clash.
The Punjab and Haryana high court has granted anticipatory bail to Congress leader Kulbir Singh Zira in an attempt to murder case registered by Ferozepur police on June 6.
Acting on the plea, the high court bench of justice Manjari Nehru Kaul, while seeking a response from the Punjab government by September 25, asked the Congress leader to join the investigation and appear before the probe agency as and when called upon to do so.
The Zira police in Ferozepur had booked the Congress leader with eight others in a case registered for an attempt to murder, criminal trespass and rioting related to a land dispute clash.
Kulbir Singh, who recently lost the Khadoor Sahib parliamentary election as a Congress candidate, has denied his involvement. In the high court, he had submitted that totally vague allegations had been levelled in the FIR against him. It is alleged that upon receiving a phone call from him, the other co-accused fired bullet shots that injured one, Gurlal Singh. Further, the petitioner was not present at the spot, and the alleged phone call in which he instructed the co-accused to attack the complainant party was not even audible, he had submitted.
The incident, which occurred on June 6, involved Gurnam Singh, a 65-year-old resident of Baggi Patni who has claimed possession of 8.12 acres near the village gurdwara since 1992. According to Gurnam Singh, Zira’s uncle Mahinder Jeet Singh and his supporters attempted to plough the disputed land. When confronted, they allegedly attacked Gurnam and his son Gurlal Singh, resulting in serious injuries to the latter which required hospitalisation in Ludhiana.
