The Tarn Taran police registered a case against 11 people on Saturday after a clash between two parties led to the death of two persons and left nine others injured in Kacha Pakka village near Bhikhiwind.
The deceased have been identified as Guravtar Singh and Dharamveer Singh. Guravtar had died on Friday night, while Dharamveer succumbed to his injuries in hospital on Saturday.
DIG (border range) Paramraj Singh Umranangal said the clash took place over a dispute on the choice of granthi of the village gurdwara. He said one party opened fire at the other, leading to the two casualties.
Those booked were identified as Baldev Singh, Harnarain Singh, Major Singh, Gurdev Singh, Kulwant Singh, Jarnail Singh, Heera Singh, Bikker Singh, Sukhwinder Singh, Sarabjit Singh and Angrej Singh.
Members of both the groups were Akali supporters. It is learnt that the suspect who opened fire, Baldev Singh, is a relative of the Akali MLA of the area.
The police said that some people in the village supported Kashmir Singh as the granthi of the gurdwara, whereas Baldev Singh and others booked in the case were opposed to Kashmir Singh and wanted another granthi.
{{/usCountry}}The police said that some people in the village supported Kashmir Singh as the granthi of the gurdwara, whereas Baldev Singh and others booked in the case were opposed to Kashmir Singh and wanted another granthi.
{{/usCountry}}This tussle was going on since the past few days and the matter took an ugly turn late on Friday evening when both groups started hurling stones at each other.
Dilbagh Singh, sarpanch of the village, said, "The entire village wants Kashmir Singh as the granthi of the gurdwara, but the other group is not in favour of it. All those responsible for the firing must be taken to task."
Bhikhiwind SHO Sukhdev Singh said some arrests had already been made and raids were on to nab the remaining accused.
Terming the incident as unfortunate, Congress leader Tejpreet Singh Peter said, "In the past few days, many incidents of crime have taken place in Tarn Taran. This is a serious problem. We demand that the police must get more vigilant and not work under any pressure."
The Congress leader also demanded that since one of the suspects was a relative of an Akali MLA, the chief minister must seriously look into the matter.