Armed assailants attacked Canadian NRIs Jasbir Singh Sajjan and his son Sandeep Singh first in their house at Sajjan village in Hoshiarpur district on Monday night and later at the Civil Hospital. However, the NRIs were booked and arrested for allegedly attacking the other party. They were remanded in two-day police custody. Jasbir had performed the last rites of his father on Monday evening.
CHANDIGARH – Armed assailants attacked Canadian NRIs Jasbir Singh Sajjan and his son Sandeep Singh first in their house at Sajjan village in Hoshiarpur district on Monday night and later at the Civil Hospital. The Station House Officer (SHO) of Hariana police station was present when the second attack took place.
However, the NRIs were booked and arrested for allegedly attacking the other party. They were remanded in two-day police custody. Jasbir had performed the last rites of his father on Monday evening.
The Indian Overseas Congress Canada has started a campaign seeking justice for the duo. It has also complained to the Canadian Embassy and senior Punjab Police officers.
Kanwar Sandhu, AAP MLA and in charge of the party’s NRI wing, highlighted the attacks — and the allegedly partisan role of the Hoshiarpur police — in the Assembly during Zero Hour on Tuesday. Giving an assurance about the safety of the NRI community, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh promised to look into the case.
Hoshiarpur SSP J Elanchezhian said the father-son duo had been booked and arrested on the complaint of their neighbours. He said their statements had been included later in the FIR and it was now a cross-case. He claimed that the SHO concerned, Dilbagh Singh, had saved the NRIs from a mob.
Amarpreet Singh Aulakh, president of the Indian Overseas Congress, Canada, said Jasbir and Sandeep were taking rest at home after the cremation of Jasbir’s father. “A group of armed persons attacked them. Later, the police arrested the NRIs. When the police took them to the Civil Hospital for a medical examination, the other party attacked them in the SHO’s presence.”
Aulakh stated that as per the FIR, the duo attacked a family in the neighbourhood. “I fail to understand how a man who has performed his father’s last rites will attack another family and then go back to his house instead of fleeing?”
