Sonipat police cut down the body and took it to the Civil Hospital
Highlights
- A video has emerged showing a group of Nihangs standing over man
- They can be heard asking man to tell them his name and native village
- Another video shows man's body strung upside down with a rope
A member of the warrior Sikh order 'Nihang' surrendered on Friday following a gruesome killing at a farmers' protest site at Singhu on the Haryana-Delhi border. The victim had been found on Friday morning with the right foot and left hand cut off.
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Nihang Saravjit Singh was produced before a court Saturday morning after surrendered to the police last evening, claiming responsibility for the murder, and was arrested.
Earlier, Haryana Chief Minister ML Khattar, who was due to visit Sonipat this week, had said "action will be taken". Mr Khattar held a meeting at his residence in Chandigarh - attended by Home Minister Anil Vij and the Haryana Police DGP - to discuss the killing.
The police had said the body was found at 5 am, after the local station (Kundli) was alerted. News agency ANI quoted JS Randhawa, Superintendent of Sonipat Police, as saying "vital clues" had been recovered. Earlier Sandeep Khirwar, IGP (Rohtak Range) told ANI a forensic team examined the area.
According to police the man is Lakhbir Singh, aged around 35, from Punjab's Tarn Taran district. A Dalit, Lakhbir was a labourer, is an adopted son, and is survived by a sister, a wife and three daughters, the eldest of whom is just 12 years old and the youngest eight.
At least three videos have been circulated, showing a large group of men who seem to be dressed as Nihangs - a 'warrior' Sikh group - standing around Lakhbir Singh and asking him questions. One video shows the group standing over him after his left hand has been cut off and he lies bleeding, his eyes glazed over in shock and pain.
The men, some carrying spears, can be heard demanding he tell them his name. Another shows Lakhbir Singh's body (it is unclear if he is alive or dead at this point) strung upside down. A third shows him on the ground as the men film his dying moments. NDTV cannot independently verify the authenticity of these videos.
Unconfirmed reports say Lakhbir Singh was beaten to death and his left hand and right foot were cut off for allegedly desecrating the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikhs' holy book. His killers then tied the body to a police barricade and left it there to be discovered.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of farmers' unions leading the protest, has condemned, and distanced itself from the murder. "... want to make it clear both sides - the Nihang group (and) the deceased - have no relation with the Kisan Morcha," it said. The group said it abhorred religious sacrilege but nobody could take the law into their hands. The guilty must be punished, the farmers body said, and offered the police its support.
The BJP's Amit Malviya has hit out at farmer leader Rakesh Tikait over this issue, holding him responsible for Lakhbir Singh's murder because of his "reaction to action" comments about the death of two party workers in UP's Lakhimpur Kheri earlier this month.
Last year there was an incident involving Nihangs - a Punjab cop had his hand chopped off with a sword in Patiala after he asked them to show them 'movement passes' during the Covid lockdown. He recovered after extensive surgery.
With input from ANI
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