Muktsar, December 22
The police today said Babu Singh, sarpanch of Kotbhai village, had been arrested in connection with the kidnapping and killing of 26-year-old Nirmal Singh of Guri Sanghar village here. Nirmal had gone missing on March 19 this year and a skeleton, identified as his, was found in the Chandbhan drain near Bhullar village on December 19.
Nirmal’s family claimed that the sarpanch was behind the kidnapping.
Muktsar SSP Opinderjit Singh Ghuman said, “We have arrested sarpanch Babu Singh as his role came up during the investigation. In the past, he used to get Navjot, the main accused in Nirmal’s killing, freed from the police by giving his surety.”
Notably, Babu Singh was once a loyalist of former Finance Minister Manpreet Badal and even joined the Congress after him, but returned to the SAD in presence of party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on January 21 this year, just before the state elections.
The SAD on Tuesday had lodged a massive protest outside the district administrative complex (DAC) here over the prevailing law and order situation.
Meanwhile, the police on December 17 arrested Gursewak Singh, son of a former SAD sarpanch Dalip Singh of Sham Khera village in Lambi Assembly segment, for the murder of 20-year-old Harman Deep Singh of Kotbhai village in Gidderbaha Assembly segment.
Harman’s body was found buried in the fields of Gursewak Singh after 23 days of his kidnapping. Further, the police claimed that the boy was strangled to death at Gursewak’s residence, who is a relative of Navjot Singh.
