The Kapurthala police have arrested Amarjit Singh (55), the Granthi of the Gurdwara at Nizampur Mor, for murder in the case of lynching of a mentally-challenged youth there on 19 December. The arrest took place hours after Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s statement on Friday morning ruling out sacrilege in the Kapurthala incident. He said that the case was that of murder and an FIR would be filed.
As many as 100 unidentified people have been booked who could be seen in the video that had been live-streamed on social media. IG Gurinder Singh Dhillon said, “Amarjit Singh, the granthi of the Nizampur gurdwara, has been arrested. As many as 100 unidentified people have also been booked for the lynching of the youth. The remaining people, including 25 to 30 armed persons, are unidentified. But we have the videos and photographs, and they will be identified and arrested. We cannot allow lynching incidents to happen.”
While Kapurthala SSP, H.P.S. Khakh confirmed that an FIR had been lodged against the caretaker of the gurdwara, the Kapurthala police remained tight-lipped about the incident till Friday afternoon. Sources said the police are on the lookout of the 100 other accused and more arrests would be made soon.
As many as 150 to 200 people had gathered at the gurdwara after Amarjit and his sewadars caught hold of the youth who they suspected had come intending to commit sacrilege. The granthi had live-streamed the event from the gurdwara and also made announcements for people to gather. When the police reached the spot after an hour-and-a-half, the majority of the injuries had been inflicted, as per officers.
The police post is near the gurdwara on the opposite side of the road. In the police’s attempts to free the youth from the room where he was tied, a scuffle ensued between the police and the mob, and at least three cops were injured.
Meanwhile, until Friday morning the only FIR lodged was against the youth and that for sacrilege under Section 295-A of the IPC. It remained the official FIR for days even as the IG himself had termed it a case of theft and not sacrilege.
Police had been awaiting the official report of the autopsy for the cause of the death of the youth. Following the autopsy of the youth conducted on Thursday by a medical board, grievous injuries from sharp-edged weapons had been found on his body. An FIR on murder charges was lodged on Friday, following which the granthi was arrested.