Three people from the Nihang community were remanded to police custody in connection with the Singhu border killing case by a district court in Sonipat, Haryana, on Sunday. The victim, Lakhbir Singh belonged to the Dalit community. His body was found at about 5 am on Friday, with severed wrists and legs tied to a metal barricade near the site of the farmers’ protest at Delhi’s Singhu border. A shocking video was also posted on social media. Members of the Nirvair Khalsa-Udna Dal, a group of Nihang Sikhs, admitted to killing the man and said he was killed for allegedly committing sacrilege. As per reports, he was killed for removing the cloth that covered the Pothi Sahib, the sacred scripture of the Sikhs, before the Prakash Prayer was to be offered around 3 am.
According to India Today, a court appearance was held for Narain Singh, Bhagwant Singh, and Govind Preet in front of junior Divisional Judge Kimmi Singla. In their disclosure statement, the police stated that they could only identify the co-accused by face and not by name and hence, requested 14 days’ custody of all the three accused.
Haryana Police is slated to take the accused along with another suspect Sarabjit Singh to Punjab to be identified. The latter has already been remanded to police custody for seven days.
As per reports, the police informed the court that the murder weapon and blood-stained clothes have not been found yet, which is why they need to take the accused to the crime scene. They have also suggested that they might have to go to Punjab to apprehend other suspects.
Narain Singh surrendered to the police in Amritsar on Saturday evening. Kundli was the scene of the surrender of the other two Nihangs, Govind Preet and Bhagwant Singh. Haryana Police brought them in for questioning after which they were formally arrested.
“Narain Singh told the court that he along with the three had committed the murder over the desecration of the holy Sikh scripture,” said Virender Singh, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Law and Order, Sonipat. He told the court that the man had made a mistake and had been punished for it.
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The gruesome murder is being investigated by Singh’s Special Investigation Team (SIT). Another SIT is headed by Assistant Superintendent of Police, Kharkhoda, Mayank Gupta. Several crime branch teams are also investigating the matter.
Narain Singh had told the media before his arrest on Saturday that Lakhbir Singh had been “punished” for sacrilege. Bhagwant Singh and Govind Preet, both Nihang Sikhs, surrendered in the murder case at the Kundli Police Station late on Saturday evening, hours after Narain Singh had surrendered in Punjab. Bhagwant, a native of Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh, and Govind, a resident of Jalandhar in Punjab, are both members of Fatehgarh Dera in Punjab.
