Singhu border: One more arrested in connection with lynching, says police

A second arrest was made on Saturday in connection with the lynching of a Dalit man at a farmers' protest site at the Singhu border, police said.

Narain Singh, belonging to the Sikhs' Nihang order, was arrested by the Amritsar Rural police at Amarkot village in Amritsar district, they said.

On Friday, Sarabjit Sigh was the first person to be arrested in connection with the case. A court in Sonipat on Saturday remanded him to police custody for seven days.

Shortly after being taken into custody, Narain Singh claimed that he had surrendered before the police.

He claimed that before coming to Amritsar, he telephonically informed the SSP Amritsar Rural that he wanted to surrender. Singh claimed that he had asked the SSP to allow him to visit the Akal Takht but police took him into custody at Amarkot village near Jandaila town, 25 km away from Amritsar city.

Before his arrest, talking to the media, Narain Singh said that Lakhbir Singh, who was lynched, had been "punished" allegedly for sacrilege.

He said that the accused of the Bargari sacrilege incident in Punjab had not yet been arrested but now if somebody were to commit such a heinous crime, he would be punished on the spot.

Paramjit Kaur, the wife of Narain Singh, was present when he was taken into police custody.

Kaur said that she was "proud" of her husband as "he has punished the guilty person responsible for sacrilege of the Guru Granth Sahib. If someone commits such a heinous crime, now I will punish him."

Many Sikh outfits honoured Narain Singh with a robe of honour and even garlanded him with currency notes when he paid obeisance in the Amarkot Gurdwara.

The body of Lakhbir Singh, a labourer from Punjab's Tarn Taran district, was found on Friday tied to a barricade at the Delhi-Haryana border, where the anti-farm law protesters have been camping, with a hand chopped off and multiple wounds caused by sharp-edged weapons.

Hours after the macabre crime, Sarabjit Sigh, wearing the blue robes of the Nihang order, claimed that he had "punished" the victim for "desecrating" a Sikh holy book.