Days after a 35-year-old scheduled caste (SC) man from Punjab was murdered at the farmers’ protest site near the Delhi border, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Tuesday said there appeared to be a deep-rooted conspiracy to defame the farmers’ stir.
Referring to the recent incident of lynching of a Dalit labourer from Tarn Taran, and the latest disclosures in media, the deputy CM, who holds the home portfolio, promised complete justice saying the government will reach the bottom of the case and identify and expose as who were the conspirators behind the incident.
Randhawa said, in view of the recent disclosures about one of the Nihang leaders having already been in touch with the Union government, Union minister for agriculture NS Tomar in particular, the lynching incident has now taken an entirely different turn. The same Nihang leader is now defending the main accused for the killing of Lakhbir Singh.
“Lakhbir Singh, the Dalit victim belonged to village Cheema Kalan and was very poor. We need to find out as who lured him to Singhu border and who paid for his travel as he could not even afford his meals”, the deputy CM observed, while adding that he had instructed the local administration to find out under what circumstances he was taken away from his home in Cheema Kalan village to Singhu border.
Randhawa said, in view of the recent photographic evidence available, the Nihang leader will also need to explain in what capacity he had met the Union agriculture minister Tomar and whether he was mandated to do so by the farmers’ organisations spearheading the campaign against three black farm laws.
The deputy CM said given the important place the Nihang leader was camping at and staging dharna at Singhu Border, it was mandatory on his part to keep the farmers’ unions informed and updated about his meetings with the Union minister.
“This has raised genuine doubts and suspicion among the minds of people which will need to be cleared and the Punjab government will do everything to reach to the root of the conspiracy and expose and punish the culprits”, he said.