E-Paper
Ludhiana: Family booked for setting neighbour’s house ablaze
Victims claim they have lost cash and valuables to the tune of Rs 6 lakh in the incident
A family in Ramandeep Colony has been booked for allegedly setting their neighbour’s house on fire on Diwali night.
The accused have been identified as Bharat Sharma, his brother Sanju Sharma, mother Harpreet Kaur and father Kamal Sharma.
Complainant Harjit Kaur said that on Diwali night, her husband, Baljinder Singh, and nephew, Daljit Singh, were bursting crackers on the street. Irked by this, the accused started abusing them. When they objected to the verbal abuse, the accused attacked Baljinder and Daljit with sticks and baseball bats and fled the spot, leaving them severely injured.
Harjit had to rush them to the hospital for treatment. However, when she was at the hospital, she received a call from another neighbour, informing her that a fire had broken out in her house.
She rushed home and saw the entire house engulfed in flames. It took the firefighters around 40 minutes to control the blaze.
Harjit claimed that her family lost about Rs 2 lakh in cash, besides furniture and jewellery worth Rs 4 lakh in the incident.
Based on her a complaint, a case under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered against Bharat Sharma and his family members. Assistant sub-inspector Sulakkhan Singh said a hunt is on for the accused.
