Victim’s family seeks bigamy case against Patiala ex-mayor

PATIALA: While the Punjab government has tried to control any further damage by forming a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the murder case registered against former Patiala mayor Jaspal Pardhan and two others, family members of the deceased are not satisfied with the investigations and have demanded registration of another case of bigamy and fraud against the tainted mayor.
“He got married again without getting divorce from his first wife and has got prepared votes at two places in Toba Kashmiria and Phulkian enclave of the same city. But no one is talking about these offenses, which shows lack of transparency in police action,” said Tejinder Singh, uncle of deceased Parmpreet Kaur, showing copies of the voter list, at his residence here on Tuesday.
Late Monday evening, Punjab government had formed a SIT under IG Shashi Prabha Diwedi and instructed the team to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation.
The three-member team consisting of Dwivedi, DIG RK Jaiswal and SP Balbir Singh was sent to the spot, who met family members of the deceased and also recorded their statements on Tuesday. They also questioned family members about whether mayor was present when family members reached the house of Parmpreet Kaur on Saturday morning, as alleged by family in FIR.
An FIR was registered two days back in Patiala Kotwali police station under sections 302 IPC against Jaspal Pardhan, Parmjeet Kaur and Harpreet Singh.
Though SIT did not take any papers on Monday night, family members were again called to the administrative complex on Tuesday, where an inspector wanted to know about the alleged affair of Harpreet Singh with another woman.