CM marks inquiry to DC, family demands CBI probe

Taking note of the shootout in Jamalpur on Saturday, chief minister Parkash Singh Badal has marked an inquiry to deputy commissioner Rajat Agarwal, asking him to submit a report.

Taking note of the shootout in Jamalpur on Saturday, chief minister Parkash Singh Badal has marked an inquiry to deputy commissioner Rajat Agarwal, asking him to submit a report.

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Badal was in Ludhiana on Sunday. While talking to the media, Badal said the main motive of the government was to maintain law and order in the state. Therefore, the culprits would be punished, no matter what positions they held.

However, demanding an independent probe, family of the victims on Sunday blocked the Ludhiana-Chandigarh Road near Neelon in protest.

Laying the bodies on the road, the family raised slogans against the police, accusing them of caste-related violence, as the victims belonged to a lower caste, while the accused, husband of a sarpanch in Machhiwara, was of a higher caste.

Terming it a cold-blood murder, they demanded a CBI inquiry into the case.

The police, after getting the autopsies done, handed over the bodies to the family, who laid the bodies on the road and refused to budge.

It was only after naib tehsildar Vivek Nirmohi assured the family of an inquiry that they cremated the bodies. The family handed over a memorandum to the naib tehsildar demanding an independent inquiry into the case.

Meanwhile, Raj Kumar Verka, chairman of National Commission of SC/ST Commission, has taken cognizance of the murders. Verka has asked DIG Ludhiana range GS Dhillon and Khanna SSP Harsh Bansal to appear before him in Samrala on Monday. Verka will also meet the family of deceased.