CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Police on Friday arrested two of the key absconders in the hooch tragedy, while adding murder charges to the FIRs against all the kingpins in the case. On directives of Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, Section 302 IPC has been added to the FIRs against the kingpins, directly responsible for the death of 113 people across three districts, DGP Dinkar Gupta said.
With the arrest of father-son duo, Harjit Singh and Shamsher Singh, the total number of arrests in the case has gone up to 54, of which 37 are from Tarn Taran, 9 from Amritsar Rural, and 8 from Batala, DGP added. Harjit Singh and Shamsher have also been booked on murder charges, apart from Kashmir Singh and Satnam Singh, said the DGP. He said that in addition, two FIRs have been registered for harbouring the criminals involved in the case and another 21 persons have been arrested in this connection. More than 887 raids have been conducted since 31 July, when the first deaths in the case were reported, in the three affected districts (303 in Tarn Taran, 330 in Amritsar (Rural) and 254 in Batala). While Harjit was nabbed by Amritsar (Rural) police, which has registered one FIR, his son was apprehended by Tarn Taran police, which has booked 3 FIRs with maximum of 84 deaths, DGP said. Two FIRs have been registered in Batala, with 14 deaths. The coordinated raids that led to the arrest of the duo took place this morning, he added.