After booking them for attempt to murder and molestation, the police had been raiding the house of Harinder Singh and Jatinder Singh in Bhoapur village near Machhiwara for their arrest.
Irked with the police harassment, the family had disowned the brothers, who had then started living in Ahluwalia Colony, Jamalpur as paying guests.
The victims, Harinder Singh, 23, and Jatinder Singh, 25, were allegedly gunned down by constable Yadwinder Singh, reader of the Machhiwara SHO, Punjab homeguard jawans Baldev Singh and Ajit Singh and Gurjeet Singh, husband of sarpanch of Takhran village, at their rented accommodation on Saturday.
The victims were pursuing graduation from a private college near Samrala and were district-level kabaddi players.
Satpal Singh, father of the victims, alleged that the Khanna police, along with Gurjeet Singh, husband of a sarpanch, had murdered his sons in a planned way.
He stated that on September 8, Yadwinder Singh had met him in a Samrala court.
“Yadwinder had threatened me to produce Harinder and Jatinder before the police. He had also threatened me that if I did not produce them, the police would kill them in an encounter,” rued Satpal.
{{/usCountry}}“Yadwinder had threatened me to produce Harinder and Jatinder before the police. He had also threatened me that if I did not produce them, the police would kill them in an encounter,” rued Satpal.
{{/usCountry}}“Harassed by the police, I was forced to disown my sons. Later, they started living somewhere else and I was hardly in contact with them,” he added.
He said, “I am a Harijan, whereas Gurjeet belongs to a higher caste. He plotted the murders because he did not want our village to surpass his, with my sons pursuing graduation.”
After the brothers were booked, their mother had filed an application for re-investigation to senior police officials. An inquiry was also marked to a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) of Samrala, following which the police had summoned them to appear for investigation on September 26, but the DSP was not present in his office.
Satpal stated that he was not aware that his sons were living in Ludhiana as paying guests. It was only through the media that he learnt about the death of his sons on Saturday afternoon, as the police never informed him, he alleged.
DIG Ludhiana range GS Dhillon said the police were investigating the matter from all aspects. “Old enmity, caste factor and other allegations levelled by the family are being considered in the investigation by Jamalpur police, where the incident happened,” he added.