Three sons gunned down in three years, Rohtak family lives in fear

It all began in May 2011, when Sandeep started a liquor vend in Jullana of Jind district in partnership with Jai Bhagwan. The duo soon fell out, following a dispute over sharing the profits. On May 18, 2011, Sandeep reportedly shot at Jai Bhagwan. The latter’s men, in turn, shot at Sandeep.

Both Sandeep and Jai Bhagwan were admitted to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Rohtak. The same night, Jai Bhagwan’s men reportedly stormed the hospital and attacked Sandeep and his attendant, Praveen. Praveen and a hospital guard, Tejvir Singh, were killed in the incident. The assailants managed to escape.

After he was discharged from the hospital, Sandeep was arrested for attempt to murder and sent to the Jind district jail. Jai Bhagwan was, however, set free.

A month later, on June 17, 2011, Jai Bhagwan and his men allegedly abducted Sandeep’s younger brother, Deepak, 18, from near Gohana, killed him and dumped his body on the railway track. Jai Bhagwan and his aide, Sanjeev alias Kokla, were arrested but were released on bail after a few months.

“We were terrified after Deepak’s murder, so we left our home in Mokhra village in Rohtak and shifted to Jullana village in Jind. We thought we would not be targeted there,” said Jaimal, Sandeep’s eldest brother.

But they were not safe in Jind too. On June 3, 2013, the couple’s son, Kuldeep, 24, was sitting outside their house, reading the newspaper, when he was allegedly gunned down by Jai Bhagwan and his men.

“I was cooking food for him while he was reading the newspaper, sitting in a chair outside our home. I heard the gunshots. I rushed out and saw Kuldeep lying in a pool of blood. We knew who had done it,” said Satwanti.

The family recently shifted back to Mokhra village in Rohtak. Last week, Sandeep, who was released on bail in December 2013, was gunned down outside the Jind district courts complex, while he was on his way to attend a court hearing.

“It becomes extremely painful for a mother to keep attending her sons’ funerals one after another. I can barely walk, and have to bear the pain of attending my sons’ funerals. We have only one son left. If he also gets murdered, we won’t have anyone to to perform our last rites,” said Satwanti.

“The police inaction is shocking. After two of my bothers were killed, we approached senior police officers who provided us security. Sandeep was accompanied by a policeman when he was shot dead outside the court complex last week. The policeman was armed but did not open counter-fire, nor could he catch any of the assailants. It shows the connivance of the state police force,” alleged Jaimal.

After all the killings in the family, the couple’s married daughters have stopped sending their children out to play. “We cannot trust anyone these days. Jai Bhagwan and his men are determined to wipe out each and every male member of our family,” said Sandeep’s sister.

When contacted, a senior Haryana Police officer said, “It is not that the criminals are roaming free in the state. As and when such crimes take place, we immediately take action and nab them. In this case also, a few of Jai Bhagwan’s men were arrested and raids are on to nab the others. They will be arrested soon.”