Bist-Doab canal case: Murder charges dropped against four; changed to abetment to suicide

Ten days after Rupinderjeet Kaur ,14, and Manpreet Kaur,14, of Sudha Majra were reported to be missing on July 21, with subsequently their bodies recovered from the Bist-Doab canal, the police are treating the case as suicide.

This is a change from the previous police investigation stance where, till Sunday, the police had booked the four arrested accused for murder. Manpreet’s body was recovered on July 21, with Rupinder’s body recovered on July 26. Senior Superintendent of Police Satinder Singh said the case against the four accused had been changed and they would be produced before a local court on Tuesday.

“The murder charges had been slapped in haste under pressure from the district police top brass,” said a police source, adding that any action under a lenient charge would have evoked protests.

Sources added that the police lacked any substantive evidence to back the murder case, so the Section was changed.

The accused, all in their 20s — Inderpreet Singh of Sudha Majra, Gurwinder Singh of Shidori near Pojewal and Lakhvir Singh of Aema village — were initially remanded in two-day police custody.

On July 29, Lakhbir of Chak Singha village was the fourth arrest in the case. Their mobile phones, expected to be important evidence, have been seized. The complaint in the case is Balraj Singh, 30, of Nakodar, an uncle of one of the girls. The arrests were made based on an analysis of the call records.