Murder allegations: Police extinguish burning pyre, send remains for postmortem

Police extinguished the burning pyre of an elderly man with water in Ludhiana, and sent his charred remains for postmortem to determine whether he had been murdered

Police personnel doused the burning pyre of an elderly man with water on Sunday, and sent his charred remains for postmortem to determine whether he had been murdered.

Police suspect that the Ludhiana man was murdered by his nephew and son over a dispute over land. The pyre was extinguished in presence of the executive magistrate. (HT PHOTO)

It is suspected that the victim, Avtar Singh, 65, of Manupur village, had been crushed to death in a field. Acting on a tip off, the police have registered a murder case against the victim’s son Jaspreet Singh, nephew Amrik Singh and their unidentified aides. The accused are on the run.

Assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Jagwinder Singh, Bardhala police post in-charge, said, “We were told that Amrik Singh had murdered his uncle Avtar Singh in his field. The victim’s son was also involved in the crime as he cremated his father’s body without informing the police.”

By the time, the police reached the cremation ground, the accused had already lit the pyre. The flames were extinguished and the body was taken into police custody in the presence of an executive magistrate. “The body had burned to the bone, only the skeleton remained,” the ASI said, adding that the body had been sent to the Civil Hospital for postmortem.

While the police are yet to ascertain the reason for the murder, villagers say that the family members had been feuding over their ancestral land, which could have led to Avtar’s murder.

A case under Sections 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code was registered. Several teams have been formed for the arrest of the accused.