Fire officer Ravinder Kumar said the fire tenders from Kapurthala, Sultanpur Lodhi and Kartarpur were rushed to the spot to douse the fire, which, as per initial probe, started while cooking food.
After the death of the constable – Jaspal Singh, 50, of Kapurthala’s Maniala village – the Punjab chief minister had announced ₹2 crore financial assistance for his family, of which ₹1 crore was to be given as ex-gratia by the government and the remainder would be paid by the insurance company.
In the special meeting of the general house of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) held on Thursday, a resolution was passed in the case of police entering Gurdwara Akal Bunga Sahib, Sultanpur Lodhi, with shoes, firing, throwing tear gas shells and alleged violation of maryada (conduct).
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has called a special general house meeting to address the police firing incident at Gurdwara Akal Bunga Sahib Chhauni Nihung Singhan. The SGPC is planning to publicize the incident and gather support for the upcoming Sikh body elections.
The incident took place on November 23 last year when Kapurthala police tried to intervene between the two Nihang groups who had been at loggerheads over the control of the gurdwara. A home guard jawan was killed while 10 persons including four policemen and two local journalists were injured in the clash.