MLA Simarjeet and Balwinder Bains in Ludhiana. (Express photo by Gurmeet Singh)

The Punjab Police Tuesday withdrew four gunmen assigned to Simarjeet Singh Bains, hours after they sought to be relived of the duty stating that they were hurt at the statement given by the Lok Insaf Party (LIP) MLA and didn’t want to be part of his security detail.

This comes a day after Bains justified an attack on a police team in Patiala by Nihangs as “revenge for atrocities inflicted by Punjab Police on common people”. In the attack, an assistant sub-inspector’s hand was chopped off. Bains has refused to withdraw his statement and accused the ruling Congress government of putting pressure on his gunmen threatening them with dismissal.

The personnel, including Sub-Inspector Jagjit Singh, head constables Satnam Singh and Jagdish Chander and constable Mangal Singh, have submitted a written application with Ludhiana City Police Commissioner Rakesh Agrawal.

The application reads: “Assi MLA Bains dey gunmen di duty nibha rahe hain. Par MLA saab ne police de khilaaf jo bayaan ditta hai oh bahut hi nindanyog hai. Assi hun ohna de naal nahi rehna chahunde. Saanu duty to waapis bula leya jaaye. (We are serving as MLA Bains’ gunmen. But MLA’s statement against police force is condemnable. We do not want to serve him anymore. It is requested that our duties be withdrawn)”.

The police commissioner confirmed that the gunmen have been withdrawn and “no decision has been taken” on assigning new gunmen to the MLA.

“We have not withdrawn his security cover on our own. The policemen are hurt and demotivated. Based on their applications, they have been called back and they won’t report to MLA now,” the police commissioner said, adding that Bains till now enjoyed security cover of four gunmen.

Bains, meanwhile, claimed that his gunmen were “threatened and forced” to sign on the applications. “I have their audio recordings. Senior Ludhiana police officials threatened them with dismissal and made them sign the manufactured applications. Ludhiana CP has no authority to decide on my security cover. As per protocol, every MLA is entitled to security cover,” he said.

Contacted, sub-inspector Jagjit Singh, one of the four gunmen, said that they have written the applications on their own. “ASI Harjeet Singh of Patiala (whose hand was chopped) is our colleague. We are working hard to serve people in (these) tough times but what MLA said has demotivated us. It is an insult to entire police force. Our brother’s hand was chopped off mercilessly and instead of standing with us, MLA spoke against us. We four have given it in writing that we do not want to serve the MLA Bains anymore. It was our decision,” the SI told the Indian Express.

The LIP leader, meanwhile, claimed that he never “appreciated” the act of ASI’s hand being chopped off. “I still stand by my statement. I had used the words ‘adle da badla’ which means that due to anger brewing against policemen who inflict atrocities on people, a sincere cop’s hand was chopped off. I never appreciated this act but spoke against those policemen who are harassing people.

Punjab Police has been thrashing innocent people during curfew, making their videos and not even sparing pregnant women and senior citizens. I tagged (Chief Minister) Capt Amarinder Singh in all such videos on Twitter but he there was no response,” Bains claimed.

He further said that Amarinder Singh was scared of the LIP because he (Bains) has challenged Ludhiana City Centre scam closure report in the Supreme Court. “Even the parties who do not have any MLA are invited to all-party meetings in Chandigarh but not the LIP. Because whenever Captain hears my name, he gets scared,” said Bains.