Day after assault on UCPMA chief, 31 booked

Those booked include president of the Federation of Industrial and Commercial Organisations (FICO) and industrialist Gurmeet Singh Kular, cashier Asru Ram Gupta, members Walaity Ram, Vicky Kular, Satnam Singh Makkar and Rajinder Singh Saholi and 25 others who are yet to be identified.

A day after two rival groups clashed during the annual general meeting (AGM) of the United Cycle and Parts Manufacturers Association (UCPMA), 31 people were booked on Thursday for assaulting Daljit Singh Chawla, president of the association.

Those booked include president of the Federation of Industrial and Commercial Organisations (FICO) and industrialist Gurmeet Singh Kular, cashier Asru Ram Gupta, members Walaity Ram, Vicky Kular, Satnam Singh Makkar and Rajinder Singh Saholi and 25 others who are yet to be identified.

Chawla, 65, a resident of Model Town, alleged that the accused thrashed him badly and tossed his turban. He added that they also assaulted him with a sharp-edged weapon.

Chawla said that Manjinder Singh Sachdeva, secretary of the association, had convened the meeting and invited over 2,000 members. However, due to Covid restrictions, the administration had allowed only 150 members inside the building.

“They were accusing me of restricting entry of members. I, along with Sudhir Mahajan, Surinder Singh Chauhan, Rajan Gupta and Ashok Gupta were present on the stage when they turned up there. Then, they assaulted me and tossed my turban. The whole incident was captured on video, which I have submitted to the police as evidence,” he added.

According to the members, the current executive committee of the association has been divided into two groups. While current president Daljit Singh Chawla and secretary Harsimerjit Singh Lucky comprise one group, the other group consists of the remaining six executive members of the association including general secretary Manjinder Sachdeva; senior vice-president Gurcharan Singh Gemco; vice-president Satnam Singh Makkar; joint secretary Walaity Ram Durga; press secretary Rajinder Singh Sarhali and finance secretary Achhru Ram Gupta.

Former presidents of the association including Charanjit Vishwakarma, Inderjit Navyug and senior members including Gurmeet Kular and Avtar Bhogal have also formed United Alliance group in support of Sachdeva group.

Members added that soon after the AGM commenced at 6:30pm, Chawla and a group led by general secretary Manjinder Sachdeva got into a heated argument over the restriction imposed on the entry of more than 150 members.

Sachdeva group alleged that Chawla had approached the administration to restrict the entry. After the Sachdeva group approached the police and members were allowed to enter, a heated argument was witnessed between the two groups.

Meanwhile, Kular said that Chawla is trying to get mileage ahead of the elections of the association, which is due in the first week of September. He claimed that there is resentment against him currently and added that the police have lodged the FIR against them under pressure.

Members meet police commissioner, seek probe

Members of the United Alliance Group met police commissioner Rakesh Agrawal on Thursday and sought a probe into the matter. Sachdeva said the meeting was convened following Covid protocol. “The hall of the association building has capacity to accommodate 1,000 members, but they had placed 150 chairs. Another 250 chairs were placed outside the hall. After 150 members entered, Chawla restricted entry of more members,” he said.

He added that at the time of incident, Walaity Ram, Asru Ram Gupta and other office bearers were on the stage and are not visible anywhere in the video. “We handed over the videos of incident to the police commissioner and sought a probe,” he added.