Slain Dera follower’s kin get aid

Slain Dera follower’s kin get aid
Rajay Deep
Tribune News Service

Mansa, August 5
Amid futile attempts by the hardliner Sikhs to take law and order into their hands, the bhog ceremony of the Dera Sacha Sauda follower, Lily Kumar, who was shot dead about a week back, passed off peacefully.
Taking measures to avoid any untoward incident, police had cordoned off the whole district. A number of check-points were set up on all roads leading to the district headquarters and also to village Maghania, where the bhog ceremony was being held.
At the bhog ceremony, a Naam Charcha was organised where hundreds of Dera followers including two Congress MLAs Ajit Inder Singh Mofar and Mangat Ram Bansal, attended the ceremony. Dera authorities honoured the deceased with the title of Amar Shaheed and also took the responsibility of bearing the education expenses of the kids of the deceased. They also gave Rs10 lakh as financial aid to the bereaved family.
On the other hand, hardliner Sikhs had given a call to gherao the deputy commissioner's office here, to built pressure upon the administration to get released all Sikhs suspected of killing Lily Kumar, detained by the district police.
After the call by the radical Sikhs, the district police, in a hurried attempt, claimed to have cracked the murder mystery of Lily Kumar, on Tuesday night. They named Gamdoor Singh alias Gora of Jhanduke village, Amrit Pal Singh, Raj Singh and Binder Singh, all belonging to village Kotdharmu, as the culprits in the case. Police showed the recovery of three weapons from their possession and presenting them in the court today obtained their police remand till August 8 for interrogation.
Despite knowing the facts, the radicals started coming from other districts and the police stationed at check-points rounded them up, even before they could enter the district. As a pre-decided move, police rounded up some hardliners including Baljeet Singh Daduwal and freed them after the bhog ceremony had passed off peacefully.
Police sources informed that they were keeping an eye on each and every move of Daljeet Singh Bittu, chief of the SAD (Panch Pardhani), who had entered the district to lead the Sikh protesters. He addressed the media at a local Gurudwara, where he accused the state government of lending support to the anti-Sikh forces. Later, the police chased him till he left the district territory.
On his part, SSP Mansa, Manminder Singh, said, "We were well prepared to foil any attempt by the hardliners to disturb peace. We did not round up any of the radical Sikhs but prevented them from reaching the DC's office and Maghania village, where the Dera followers were assembled for the bhog ceremony."
However, the SSP parried all queries related to the four persons arrested in Lily Kumar murder case. He only said that three arrested previously in this connection on the basis of suspicion, would soon be released from jail.