CHANDIGARH (PTD): Eighteen persons including a militant wore killed and a defeated BIP candidate escaped an attempt on his life in the strife-tom Northern Indian state of Punjab police said on March 27.

Gunmen attired in police uniforms shot dead seven persons of one community in village Gahari Mandi in Majitha police district around midnight.

Senior police officials and eyewitnesses told newsmen at the village that gunmen who were dressed in CRPF and helped by a wooden ladder used on the pretext of searching for an absconding militant.

They systematically collected Jaswant Rai inspector in the cooperative societies and also took away his three sons tied their hands behind them and forced them to march towards the market place.

Three more persons were similarly taken to the market place where all of them were lined up and gunned down.

The victims were identified as Jaswant Rai and his three sons Dharminder Kumar (20) Jatinder Kumar (18) and Sukhnandan Kumar (16) Sanjeev Kumar (25) Rajiv Kumar (20) and Ashok Kumar (24)

Ram Chand Premi, a Bharatiya Janata Party leader who unsuccessfully contested from Rajpura assembly seat in the recent Punjabi elections escaped an attempt on his life while his gunman was killed near Rajpura this morning.

Two men on a scooter fired at Premi who escaped gunmen miraculously but his guard Kolwinder Singh was hit and died at the scene another person was injured in the incident.

Three members of one family were gunned down by gunmen at their house in village Bhagwanpur in Kapurthala district. The victims were identified as Sadhu Singh his wife and their son.

Gunmen gunned down two persons Shisha Singh and Bhupinder Singh near Baba Lohara road in Ludhiana district. Gunmen shot dead Dr. Tarlochan Singh in village Madhuke in Majitha police district.

An unidentified militant was killed in an encounter with security forces near village Jhungan in Bathinda district

“The police recovered an unidentified body from be Sarowar inside the Golden Temple complex at Amritsar.

An under custody militant being escorted by the security forces escaped near village Gariana in Jalandhar district.

Article extracted from this publication >> April 10, 1992