E-Paper
Ludhiana | 2 days after being attacked thrice in a night, VHP leader’s car ‘torched’
The VHP leader said he was woken up by the continuous blaring of a car’s alarm at around 4.30am. “When I went to the roof to check what was causing the racket, I saw my Maruti Suzuki Ertiga, parked outside my house in Ludhiana, was on fire,” Kumar said
Two days after Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Sushil Kumar and his family members were attacked thrice in one night, unidentified persons allegedly torched his vehicle, which was parked outside his house, on Wednesday morning.
The VHP leader said he was woken up by the continuous blaring of a car’s alarm at around 4.30am. “When I went to the roof to check what was causing the racket, I saw my Maruti Suzuki Ertiga was on fire,” Kumar said.
The complainant suspects that the same people who had repeatedly attacked him, his brother, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) circle president Sunil Kumar, and their family members, and had also vandalised homes and cars in New Puneet Nagar over a petty dispute on February 13 , had torched his car as he had lodged an FIR against them.
However, Tibba station house officer Nardev Singh said primary investigation suggests the flames started inside the car, and all four doors were locked. “Though the complainant has accused the people who attacked him two days ago for the incident, we will take action after carrying out a forensic investigation.”
Two days ago, Kumar had lodged an FIR against Rahul, Chetan, Hunny, Pankaj, Sagar, Govinda, Teji, Lakhan and 35 other unidentified accused under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), 427 (damages), 506 (criminal intimidation), 148 (rioting) and 149 (unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) of the Indian Penal Code. However, no arrests have been made.
What had happened?
On the night of February 13, the complainant’s uncle Zilajeet Singh had accidentally brought home the wrong scooter from the pharmacy, but was abused by the owner of the two-wheeler when he went back to the shop to return it.
Minutes after they had returned home, the accused, along with around 20 other people, turned up there and attacked them.
The unidentified assailants also vandalised four houses, two bikes, a car and a three-wheeler parked in the street, while also taking away the CCTV’s digital video recorder (DVR) installed at the victim’s house in the third attack of the night.
