Ferozepur: The police are yet to arrest the
sarpanch and five of his associates, booked for firing at and injuring five people of a rival group, in a village here on Wednesday. Inderpal Singh, sarpanch of Bet Qadim village, had opened fire on members of a rival group after one of them allegedly posted comments against him on social media, the police said.
Inderpal, who owes allegiance to Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), opened fire following an argument with Ravinder Khullar of the rival group in Bet Qadim village, the police said. He allegedly opened fire from his licenced gun at Khullar's house. Apart from Khullar, four other people were injured during the incident, the police said.
According to information, when shots were being fired, a school bus was passing through the area and a bullet also hit its driver while the students on board saved themselves by taking cover under the seats. The injured include, Ravinder, Rakesh Khullar, Satpal Khullar, a passerby Darshna Rani and Bharat Bhushan, the driver of school bus.
The injured were admitted to Guru Gobind Singh Medical College in Faridkot. Assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Pawan Kumar, who is the investigating officer (IO) in the case, said after probing the matter, a case under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 452 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and 25, 27, 54, 59 of the Arms Act had registered against Inderpal, his son Ajay Kumar, wife Poonam Rani, Dharampal, Tarsem Lal and Raman Kumar, all residents of Bet Qadim.
In his complaint to the police, Khullar said four months ago he had an altercation with Inderpal over auction of panchayat land and funds account and he had been nurturing grudge against him since then.
