Ludhiana village sarpanch, aides booked for assaulting rival

Sharma stated that he was on his way to meet a friend when his car was intercepted

The Focal Point police on Wednesday booked a Shiromani Akali Dal sarpanch and his accomplices four days after they had allegedly assaulted a Gobindgarh village resident.

HT Image

An FIR was lodged against sarpanch Jagtar Singh, Jasveer Singh of Friends Colony, Chandigarh Road, and their six accomplices, who are yet to be identified. Complainant Krishan Lal Sharma, 48, who is the president of All India Sher-e-Punjab National Party, had contested the sarpanch elections against the accused, but had lost.

Sharma stated that he was on his way to meet a friend when his car was intercepted. The accused had dragged him out of the car and thrashed him with sticks and iron rods.

The assailants also allegedly vandalised the vehicle.

The victim alleged that ahead of the polls, the accused had threatened him with bodily harm unless he backed out from contesting elections. In another incident, the sarpanch’s workers had been harassing a family in Sharma’s locality, and after he had helped them lodge a complaint with the commissioner of police Rakesh Agarwal, the sarpanch again threatened him with dire consequences.

ASI Jasveer Singh, who is investigating the case, said that initially, Krishan Lal Sharma was medically unfit to record his statement therefore they recorded his statement on Tuesday.

A case, under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restrain), 506 (criminal intimidation), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 34 (act done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), of the Indian Penal Code, was registered against the accused.