The family members of Aman outside the mortuary in Chandigarh. (Express photo by Jaipal Singh)
Two persons, including a juvenile, were arrested on Saturday for killing Aman (25) and injuring his brother-in-law, Sunny (27), with a sharp weapon on Friday night, following protests by the victims’ kin and residents of Bhaskar Colony, Sector 25, who accused the police of being biased.
Police also rounded up another suspect, Tarsem Kumar (30) of Bhaskar Colony-25, who had an altercation with Aman two days ago as the eyewitness to the murder, Sunny (27), alleged that it was Tarsem, who stabbed Aman. Sunny, who also suffered a stab injury, was discharged from GMSH-16 on Saturday.
Sunny and Tarsem had a heated argument over refuelling their vehicles at a Sector 37 fuel station on Thursday.
Police said, “Although in his statement to the police, Sunny said it was Tarsem, who stabbed Aman, we are yet to take a final call on his claim. The juvenile, who was arrested hours after the crime, has confessed to having stabbed Aman and the sharp weapon has been recovered from his possession. Tarsem is also being questioned in this connection.”
Sunny said, “Tarsem is clever. He knows that a juvenile can easily get bail in a criminal case. He stabbed Aman and insisted that the juvenile take the blame. Police are not conducting a fair investigation. Tarsem has a criminal background. I was going with Aman to his house when around six persons, including Tarsem, Somi and the juvenile, along with three others, attacked us. I ran to call my family members and in the meantime, the assailants stabbed Aman.”
Fearing the worst, family members of the prime accused, Tarsem, locked their home at Bhaskar Colony and left in the wee hours of Saturday.
Inspector Lakhbir Singh, SHO of Sector 11 police station, said, “We have arrested two persons. Tarsem is also a cloth vendor, who has a stall at Sector 17. He was arrested in two cases of theft in 2013. The complainant, Sunny, too, has been arrested in two cases under the NDPS Act. We have registered an FIR against three accused, including the juvenile, Tarsem and Somi along with other unidentified persons. The juvenile and Somi were arrested after being identified by Sunny.”
Meanwhile, when the kin of Aman and Sunny, along with locals, accused the police post-24 in-charge, Sub-inspector Rohtash Kumar, of being biased, he was pulled out of the probe.
DSP (Central) Jaswinder Singh said, “We have excluded SI Rohtash Kumar from the investigation. But, the allegations of the victims’ kin against Rohtash are yet to be substantiated. They were blaming Rohtash for pressuring murder eyewitness Sunny to change his statement. But actually, Rohtash was trying to ascertain the names of the people involved in the murder. A few started naming people, who were actually not present in the colony during the murder.”
Both Aman and Sunny were rushed to GMSH-16 in a police vehicle, followed by locals shouting anti-police slogans. Also, altercations between the family members and police broke out outside the emergency ward of GMSH-16 when family members tried to force their way in. They also manhandled security guards at the hospital.
Aman’s maternal uncle Billa said, “Aman was stabbed at the same place, where 18-year-old Vikas was stabbed to death by seven persons, including four juveniles, in August 2016. Though there are CCTV cameras in the locality where Aman was murdered, police have not found anything.” Inspector Lakhbir Singh said, “There are cameras but the exact location of the crime was not covered. We are analysing the footage of all cameras in the locality.”