Bar Association observes no work day in Amritsar

On a call given by the Amritsar Bar Association, district courts in Punjab today observed “No work day” in protest against the deteriorating law and order situation in Punjab and failure of the Amritsar rural police to arrest the prime accused in lawyer Lakhwinder Singh’s murder case.

Lakhwinder was shot at by armed bike-borne assailants on July 22. He succumbed to his injuries at a private hospital on Saturday.

The police arrested three shooters, including two operatives of foreign-based gangster Happy Jatt, and recovered five pistols from them. Members of the Amritsar Bar Association alleged that the prime suspect, identified as Abhi, was yet to be arrested. They alleged that none of the suspects named in the FIR registered following a complaint filed by the brother of the deceased had been arrested in the case.

The association held an agitation outside the main entrance gate of the district court and blocked the traffic. Following this, the police diverted the traffic in order to avoid any congestion.

The office-bearers of the Bar association also met Amritsar rural SSP Maninder Singh who assured them that the accused would be arrested soon. He said police teams were carrying out raids at possible hideouts of accused Abhi to arrest him. Abhi had instructed shooters to kill Lakhwinder Singh.

Though the initial probe suggested that personal enmity was the reason behind murder, the police said the real motive would become clear after Abhi’s arrest.

The association claimed that the district administration had accepted their key demands, including payment of hospital bill amounting to Rs 8.5 lakh, free education of both children of the deceased apart from a government job for the eligible family member on compassionate grounds. The police produced two shooters Manpreet Singh and Manminder Singh in a court and procured their six-day remand for further investigation.

Amritsar