Family of man 'killed' by Congress candidate rues inaction

FEROZEPUR: The family of Nishan Singh, the victim of a shootout in Ferozepur's Piarana village on polling day (January 30), is getting impatient over the failure of the police to nab Jesmail Singh alias Laddi Gehri -- husband of Satkar Kaur, Congress candidate from Ferozepur rural assembly constituency -- the prime accused in the case.
"Is the police deliberately delaying the arrest of my son's killers out of fear of upsetting political bigwigs, who might rule the state in the coming days? Is the 'political survival' of a few cops so important that it is overshadowing their duty to provide justice to the aggrieved?" Paramjit Singh, father of the deceased wanted to know.
The recent shifting of the investigations from the local police to IG, Crime, has only made the family of the victim impatient.
Over a month after a bullet, allegedly fired from Laddi's revolver killed Nishan, an innocent bystander outside a polling booth at the close of the polling process, the police claim that it has no clue about his whereabouts. A case under Section 302 of the IPC was registered against Laddi, who had been evading arrest since January 30.
The police claim it has been carrying out raids and questioning people. Police sources say that they have obtained arrest warrants and are in the process of declaring Laddi a proclaimed offender (PO). However, Nishan's family is not convinced about the sincerity of the police in nabbing the accused.
"My son was shot dead in front of so many people, yet the police wants me to name Laddi as the culprit, probably because everybody else is reluctant to name a political person as a killer. I told the cops why should I name somebody when I was not even present at the spot?" Paramjit Singh told TOI.
"We don't understand how a prime accused in a murder case has been roaming freely for over a month and the police is doing nothing, but giving false assurances to us. We don't want lip service, we want the accused to be arrested without any further delay," he added.