Upset of police inaction: Man snatches rifle from Home Guard, surrenders later

The man went live on Facebook and brandished the gun from his car. The rifle also contained a magazine. The man later surrendered after fervent appeals made by the police officials

Upset over the alleged inaction by the police on the complaint registered by him, a man snatched a rifle from a Punjab home guard deployed at Dhariwal police station, falling under the jurisdiction of Gurdaspur police.

As per the police officials, the man, identified as Jaswinder Singh of Gurdasnangal village, came to the police station at 8.25 am. (Image courtesy:Social media screenshot)

He later streamed it live on Facebook from his car and disclosed his plan to kill the persons who allegedly attacked him at his home.

As per the police officials, the man, identified as Jaswinder Singh of Gurdasnangal village, came to the police station at 8.25am. He confronted a home guard, Pardeep Kumar, deployed there. Jaswinder told him that he was to meet the munshi of the police station. At the same moment, he pushed him and snatched the rifle. By pointing the rifle towards Pardeep, he boarded a car and fled from there. The rifle also contained the magazine.

He stated in the Facebook live that two persons had come to his house to assault him. “I lodged a police complaint seeking action against both. I have been visiting the police station for the last one-and-half months, but the police have not taken any action. Instead the station house officer (SHO) concerned said a case would also be registered against me, because I hit them with bricks from the terrace. So, I informed the SHO that I would kill both the assailants and the police can take any action against me. For this purpose, I have snatched the rifle. The SHO will be responsible for what is going to happen,” he added. His Facebook live went viral over the social media, that sent cops of Gurdaspur district into tizzy.

After being informed, Gurdaspur senior superintendent of police (SSP) Deepak Hillory constituted different teams under superintendent of police (detective) to nab him. With technical support, the police initiated the search operation. The cops spotted him hiding inside a farm house of his relative. The police personnel with its squad with modern weapons were deployed around the house. The accused was appealed to by the DSP (Dhariwal) Sukhwinder Singh and DSP (D) Sukhpal Singh to surrender. Finally, he surrendered in the presence of mediapersons. The rifle was also recovered from his possession. A case was registered against him under Section (329, 307, 353, 186) of the Indian Penal Code.

The accused himself called some mediapersons at his hideout when he surrendered. In the police custody, he disclosed, “A dispute regarding the salary of the granthi in gurdwara of Gurdasnangal is reason behind the attack on me. The inaction by the police forced me to take this step.” However, the SSP ruled out his allegations. “We are carrying out the investigation according to the complaint lodged by him. According to the report of the investigation, the police will take further action”.