All nine policemen said to be involved in the August 18 Sherpur mistaken identity shooting near Malerkotla were on Thursday arrested and booked.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP) PPS Thind confirmed registration of charges under Sections 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 427 (mischief causing a petty amount of damage), and 34 (common intent in crime) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against all. On August 28, acting on the inquiry report of deputy superintendent of police (detective) Krishan Kumar Painthe, Thind had suspended these policemen and sent them to the police lines.
Ludhiana's Dayanand Medical College (DMC) had certified earlier that Sunil Kumar "Happy" and Satinder Kumar "Honey" - the brothers fired upon after being taken for fleeing gangsters - had not received any bullet injuries, though; and their cuts were from car-glass splinters. They were moved to the hospital from the scene of shooting on August 18.
At Sherpur on Thursday, the two brothers and a handful of their supporters staged a dharna at the main square of Katron Chowk and forced the market to close for two hours. "Our only demand is that the culprits be booked and punished. On Friday, we will take it up with deputy commissioner Arshdeep Singh Thind," said Happy, adding that the next protest would be at the Sherpur police post on September 16.
The brothers' family though is not keen to take the case further, even when Happy had earlier accused the police of not recording their statement or taking any action against their own men. He denied his family was under any pressure for compromise. SSP Thind refuted this charge and said: "Police recorded the statements of both brothers. They had stated that nerves on being flagged down near a trap had forced them to speed away. This caused the police to believe they were some fleeing criminals. It was a case of mistaken identity."
{{/usCountry}}The brothers' family though is not keen to take the case further, even when Happy had earlier accused the police of not recording their statement or taking any action against their own men. He denied his family was under any pressure for compromise. SSP Thind refuted this charge and said: "Police recorded the statements of both brothers. They had stated that nerves on being flagged down near a trap had forced them to speed away. This caused the police to believe they were some fleeing criminals. It was a case of mistaken identity."
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