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Drug arrest case: Medico shoots self with ASI’s pistol at Samrala police station
KIN CRY FOUL: Family, relatives reject police’s suicide claim, demand registration of murder case, hold protest
KIN CRY FOUL: Family, relatives reject police’s suicide claim, demand registration of murder case, hold protest
A registered medical practitioner (RMP) arrested in a drug case allegedly shot self on his head with the service pistol of an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) at the Samrala police station in Ludhiana district on Tuesday morning.
Nardeep Singh (47) of Manjaliyan village of Samrala sub-division, who was arrested for allegedly possessing recovered 70 sedative pills on Monday, died on the spot, the police claimed. He ran a clinic in the village. He is survived by his wife, mother and two sons.
Khanna superintendent of police (detective) Jasvir Singh said ASI Rajinder Singh, who had arrested Nardeep, was about to take him to produce in a court.
He said the ASI took him to the investigation room for preparing the required documents and left his weapon in the drawer of a table. The accused took out the weapon from the drawer and shot self in the head, the SP added.
Hearing the gunshot, police personnel rushed to the room and saw Nardeep lying in a pool of blood. They immediately sounded the senior officials.
A forensic team also reached the spot and collected evidence.
Judicial inquiry marked
A judicial inquiry was marked into the case and ASI Rajinder was suspended with an immediate effect. Also, a departmental inquiry was marked against him by Khanna SSP Gursharandeep Singh.
Rejecting the police’s claim, his family and relatives called it a murder and staged a protest at the police station in the afternoon and blocked the Ludhiana-Chandigarh road for three hours. They demanded that a murder case be registered against ASI Rajinder.
They alleged that the police killed Nardeep and now are trying to show it as a case of suicide.
Nardeep’s wife Paramjit Kaur said besides ASI Rajinder a murder case be registered against station house officer (SHO) Sukhvir Singh.
A magistrate reaching the spot and initiated probe into the matter following which the family lifted the protest.
Second custodial
death in 3 months
It was second incident of custodial death in Khanna police district. On May 8, a 20-year-old youth arrested for eloping with a girl allegedly died at the Issru police post in Khanna. His body was found from fields near the police post. The Family accused the police of murdering him and throwing his body. They blocked traffic on Khanna-Malerkotla road for over four hours. The SSP had suspended four police personnel – including ASI Karamjit Singh, in-charge of the police post, ASI Harbhajan Singh, head constable Jaswant Singh and home guards jawan Avtar Singh a day after the incident.
