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Two ruling Akali
leaders murder man, pocket Rs 40 lakh
WSN Bureau
Bathinda: Bathinda police last Wednesday arrested two ruling Akali
Dal leaders for killing a cloth merchant after kidnapping him and
receiving Rs 40 lakh as ransom. While Balbir Singh was elected block
samiti member on an SAD ticket in the Panchayati Raj Institution
election held on May 12, Gurpreet Singh, supported by Akalis, won
the panchayat elections held on May 26 in Jalal Akalia village.
Balbir and Gurpreet were canvassing for the polls while also giving
shape to their heinous crime by striking a deal with the family of
deceased, Sham Lal,62, of Bhagta Bhai Ka, whom they reportedly knew
well.
Even as the merchant
died, the trio did not give up their plan and reportedly received Rs
40 lakh on May 27 from the family who desperately waited for Lal’s
return. “The accused bundled the body in a bag filled with bricks
and threw it in a canal near Rania Rauke village in Moga district,”
said the police. Balbir’s family is settled in Canada, while he
himself was well-off — owned an SUV and spent liberally on block
samiti polls.
Meanwhile, in
Jalandhar, police arrested the secretary of Punjab Congress Manoj
Sondhi for abduction and rape of a minor. This came barely a day
after two Akali leaders were held for killing a businessman for
ransom. A father of three kids — with the eldest daughter being
around 14 — Sondhi was arrested from Ludhiana by Division No. 3
police and the 17-year-old girl was also recovered.
4
June,
2008
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