Case against Bhattal withdrawn

Following the incident, Deputy Superintendent of Police Gurbachan Singh had lodged an FIR with the Kotwali police station against certain trader leaders, some relatives of the deceased trader Bant Ram Goyal and Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, besides a local journalist Sushil Kumar Jain.

Cases were registered against them on the charges of ransacking the DSP8217;s office, preventing public servants from discharging their duties and forcing entry into the DSP8217;s office. According to the FIR, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal incited the mob, following which people started throwing brickbats on policemen, smashed window panes, tore off curtains, snapped telephone wires and later forced their entry into the office of the DSP carrying the dead body of Bant Ram Goyal and laid siege to the office for almost two hours. It may be mentioned here that Bant Ram Goyal, a former vice-chairman of the market committee, disappeared on May 20 after he left for Chhintauwale. His dead body was found in a drain at Gohlan village, about four km from Chhintanwala and bore several injury marks.

A large number of senior Congress leaders had condemned the police action in registering a case against Bhattal and demanded its immediate withdrawal.