BARNALA – The Barnala police arrested three alleged accused named in the suicide case of farmer Baljit Singh and his mother Balbir Kaur.
Navdeep Singh, SHO, Sadar police station, Barnala, said the police had arrested the arhtiya (money lender), Teja Singh of Barnala, Baljit Singh and another Baljit Singh, both from Cheema village (near Barnala). He said Teja Singh’s two sons – Jaspreet Singh and Manpreet Singh – were still at large.
The mother-son duo had allegedly committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance yesterday when an arhtiya along with the police and revenue officials visited the village to take possession of their land on the directions of the court.
Earlier, tension prevailed at the Civil Hospital here as agitating farmers refused to let the authorities to conduct the post-mortem. The protesters demanded arrest of all accused, compensation and a job for a family member of the deceased. Later, a meeting was held this afternoon between administrative officials and BKU (Dakonda) members.
Bhupinder Singh Rai, Deputy Commissioner, said it was decided that the family of the deceased would be given a compensation of Rs10 lakh.
Manjit Singh Dhaner, senior vice-president, BKU (Dakonda), said after reaching a compromise, they ended their dharna. Congress leaders Charanjit Singh Channi, Sunil Jakhar, Mohd Sadique and Karan Kaur Brar, visited the Civil Hospital.
