Killing at Phagwara gurdwara: Murder charges slapped against nihang, sent to 7-day custody

Earlier, the accused was arrested under sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 295A (hurting religious sentiments) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)

Nine days after a 35-year-old youth was allegedly murdered at Phagwara gurdwara, the Kapurthala police have slapped murder charges against the accused nihang Ramandeep Singh.

Nihang Ramandeep Singh

Earlier, the accused was arrested under sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 295A (hurting religious sentiments) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The accused was sent to seven-day police custody again on Wednesday. After committing the crime on January 16, the accused was in police custody for seven days and was produced in the local court today.

The accused was arrested after he allegedly hacked a youth to death on the suspicion that he had committed a sacrilege at Gurdwara Chaura Khooh in Phagwara.

Kapurthala senior superintendent of police (SSP) Vatsala Gupta said that section 302 (murder) of the IPC has been added in the FIR as any sort of sacrilege has already been ruled out during the investigation.

“The detailed investigation is already on and the operational findings of the case could not be divulged at this stage,” he said.

Punjab additional director general of police (ADGP) Gurinder Singh Dhillon has already stated that during the preliminary investigation, it came to the fore that there is no religious reason behind the killing of the youth and the accused nihang has a criminal track record and might have committed the crime to be in the limelight.