JALANDHAR: Resentment prevails in Barajata and nearby villages in the jurisdiction of Tanda police station in Hoshairpur district following the mysterious death of village sarpanch (headman) Kuljit Singh Dhat, 35.
Villagers led by Mrs. Prakash Kaur the sister of the famous freedom fighter and martyr Bhagat Singh held a demonstration in Tanda on July 30, demanding an immediate supervision of the Deputy Superintendent of Police and an enquiry into of Kuljit Singh who was also a director of Bhogpur Cooperative Sugar Mills.
In a letter addressed to prime minister, Punjab governor and his advisor Jolie Reiberio, Harbhajan Singh the elder Wkother of the sarpanch said that thé“Eanda police arrested his brother from the house of a relative in a nearby Ghur on July 23,
He said that when he along with prominent citizens approached the police, they said Kuljit would be released.
He alleged that his brother was tortured too much by third degree methods and as a result of it he died while in custody.
Later the police concocted a Story that he was gunned down by the police when he tried to escape in the Mand area where he had been taken for further investigations,
He said that the police story was a blatant lie to hide the crime. Kuljit Singh was very popular in the area and had been prominent in public life since 1978.
He was also a member of the governing council of Khalsa College and Senior Secondary School in Gardhiwala in Hoshiarpur.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 4, 1989
