Clash over panchayat elections

Four persons from Baghwali village were allegedly attacked by a group of youths from the same village for supporting a particular candidate during panchayat elections held last month,on Thursday evening. The accused,identified as Jaswinder Singh,Ravinder Kumar and Raj Kumar,were nursing a grudge against the victims — Sunit Kumar,Rambir,Surjit Singh Baghwali and Rampal—¿ for voting in favour of Bala Devi in the elections.

A case has been registered under Sections 148,149,323,326,348 and 506 of IPC against the accused at Mouli police post. The accused,however,were still at large till the filing of this report. The incident took place around 8 pm last evening,when the four victims were going to pay obeisance at Lalawala peer in the village. Rampal,one of the victims,said the accused had been threatening them since the elections for not supporting their candidate,Kanta Devi,who eventually lost.

The trio attacked Rampal and his friends with sharp-edged weapons. When they raised an alarm,villagers rushed to their rescue,but the accused managed to flee. The injured were brought to General Hospital,Sector 6,in the afternoon today,from where Rambir was referred to PGI,as his condition was stated to be critical. Meanwhile,tempers ran high in the village,as residents protested against the police’s inaction in nabbing the accused. The villagers claimed that though they had informed the police in time,they failed to make any arrest.