Ludhiana cop, his councillor father, 10 others booked for abetment of suicide

The 35-year-old victim had named the 12 accused in her suicide note before attempting to end her life on July 2

A day after a woman who had consumed poison alleging harassment by an inspector, his councillor father and their aides over a property transfer row succumbed, the police booked twelve people for abetment of suicide on Saturday.

The victim’s family have refused to cremate the body until the accused are arrested. (Representative photo)

Those who have been booked are inspector Bittan Kumar, posted at Ludhiana Police Lines, his father Surinder Atwal, who is the councillor of the ward 84, Bittan’s brothers Sajan Atwal and Pawan Atwal, uncle Pardeep Kumar, realtors Jaspal Singh, Gurcharan Singh, Gurcharan’s son-in-law Ravinder Singh, the victim’s step sisters Kuljinder Kaur, Manjeet Kaur, Ravinder Kaur and step brother-in-law Balbir Singh Makkar, said assistant commissioner of police Waryam Singh.

The 35-year-old victim had named the 12 accused in her suicide note before attempting to end her life on July 2. She succumbed six days later on July 8 at Dayanand Medical College and hospital on July 8. The victim’s family have refused to cremate the body until the accused are arrested.

In her suicide note, the victim had said that Bittan and his allies had fraudulently grabbed their properties and were harassing her in order to take possession of them. She had also accused her step sisters and step brother-in-law for fraudulently taking fixed deposit receipts (FDRs) from her mother.

The victim’s brother said that their mother, who is illiterate, wanted to transfer the ownership of two properties in his sister’s name in 2013. But, the realtor, Jaspal, fraudulently managed to transfer a part of the property in his son-in-law Ravinder’s name, while ownership of the rest was given to Pardeep Kumar, the inspector’s uncle. The accused allegedly also made his sister sign the documents on the pretext of transferring the property in her name. Later, they started harassing her to vacate the property, which forced her to take the extreme step.

He had also accused the inspector and his supporters of harassing him and threatening to arrest him on made-up charges. Inspector Bittan Kumar has refuted the allegations and has said that he does not know the woman.

Controversy’s favourite child

November 7, 2020:  The Division Number 4 police had booked inspector Bittan Kumar, his brother Sajan Atwal and 10 accomplices for assaulting two siblings. One of the victims’ nasal bone had been fractured in the attack. An FIR had been lodged against the cop and his aides only after the family moved the Punjab and Haryana high court. The family had alleged that the police were favouring the inspector.

October 23, 2019: Two days after dreaded gangster Vijay Sidhu alias Chhota Lalla was murdered while he was trying to extort money from firecracker traders, the Salem Tabri police had booked the aides of the dead gangster, which included the inspector’s brother Sajan Atwal,for extortion. Subsequently, the inspector, who was the Dugri station house officer was transferred to Police Lines.