Aparna Banerji
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, December 24
Four days after a youth was killed on the suspicion of sacrilege at a gurdwara at Nizampur Mor village in Kapurthala, the police today arrested Amarjit Singh (55), the granthi and caretaker of the shrine, for the alleged murder.
Mala fide intention
The motive appears to be the intention to flaunt quick justice in sacrilege cases. — Kapurthala SSP
An FIR was lodged against Amarjit and at least a 100 unidentified people for the alleged murder. Of the 100 booked, at least 30 were armed. Ruling out sacrilege, IG, Jalandhar range, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, while addressing the media later in the day, termed the killing a brutal and planned murder.
The arrest took place within an hour of Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s statement this morning that sacrilege had been ruled out in the December 19 Kapur-thala incident. He also declared that the case was that of murder.
The FIR at the Kotwali police station in Kapurthala included the murder charge.
It was filed under sections 302, 307, 353, 186, 342, 148, 149 and 120-B of the IPC as well as sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act. The IG said, “On the basis of the investigation, sacrilege wasn’t established in the case. It was a brutal, well-planned murder. The accused (Amarjit Singh) called his close-knit group on the phone. All these men conspired to carry out the murder. The others will be arrested soon.”
The police said an FIR had also been lodged against Amarjit Singh at the Sadar police station in Nawanshahr in 2016 for using a stolen car.
SSP, Kapurthala, HPS Khakh said, “Since it has been established that no sacrilege took place, the previous FIR (Section 295-A) will be quashed.”
“So far, the motive for the murder appears to be the intention to flaunt quick justice in sacrilege cases, especially after the Darbar Sahib incident,” the SSP added.
On December 19, 150 to 200 people had gathered at the gurdwara after Amarjit and his sewadars caught hold of the youth they suspected had come with the intention to commit sacrilege.
The granthi had live-streamed the event and also made announcements for people to gather. The autopsy report which arrived today has confirmed that the youth received 18 injuries from sharp-edged weapons.
Kapurthala Lynching: Police rule out sacrilege, arrest granthi for ‘murder’
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