Hours after Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Friday maintained that investigations into Kapurthala incident had not found any evidence of desecration but the youth was lynched, the police arrested the Gurudwara head Amarjit Singh on murder charges. Besides, over 100 unidentified people have been booked in the case.
The arrest, which came five days after an enraged mob lynched a youth in the presence of the police on the allegations of attempted sacrilege bid at a local village Gurudwara at Nizampur Mor in Kapurthala, was made after the CM had maintained the FIR filed in the incident would be modified.
“The investigations into the Kapurthala incident have not found any evidence of desecration...The youth was lynched. The investigation is pointing towards a murder. We will modify the FIR accordingly,” Channi said at a press conference in Chandigarh.
The youth, till now, has remained unidentified, but is suspected to be a migrant labourer. In an effort to identify him, the Kapurthala police has sent the deceased’s picture to police stations across the country. His samples have also been taken for a DNA test. His autopsy report, received a day before, had shown 30 cuts on the body, which is mostly sharp, deep cuts, suspected to have been inflicted by a sword, on his neck, hips, and head.
“Amarjit was arrested and murder charges have been added in the FIR filed earlier, under Section 295 (A),” said Kapurthala SSP Harkamlpreet Singh Khakh.
“As many as 100 unidentified people have also been booked for the lynching of the youth. The remaining people, who include 25 to 30 armed persons, are unidentified. But we have the videos and photographs, and they will be identified and arrested. We can’t allow lynching incidents to happen,” said IG Gurinder Singh Dhillon added.