Chandigarh: A day after a dalit man was lynched by three farmers who suspected him of having stolen paddy from their store in a village under Ratia sub-division of Fatehabad district, police have failed to nab the accused.
On the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, the three farmers tied up the victim, Baldev alias Bedu (40) to a cot near the store and attacked him. The accused, identified as Kulwant Singh, Govind Singh and Sarabjeet Singh thrashed Bedu to death and dumped his body outside his house on Tuesday. They informed local panch Suresh Kumar about Bedu's confinement and Suresh asked them to take him to the hospital for treatment.
Suresh identified the three accused and got his statement recorded before the Ratia police. Police registered a case of murder and wrongful confinement and violation of the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act at Ratia police station on the complaint of the victim's elder brother.
Fatehabad deputy superintendent of police (headquarters) Ravinder Tomar said three police parties are conducting raids to arrest the accused. "We are already on the job. Since they are landlords, they cannot go elusive. One of teams is conducting raids while the other two are gathering more evidence to strengthen the case," he said.
