SAD leader's murder: Police trying to 'save' accused, alleges Majithia

The Shiromani Akali Dal on Thursday accused the police of trying to "save" the accused in the brutal murder case of a party leader in Gurdaspur at the "behest" of a Punjab minister.

Dalbir Singh Dhilwan (51), a two-time sarpanch and the current vice-president of the Gurdaspur unit of the SAD, was shot dead and his legs chopped off following an altercation on Monday evening.

"Seventy-two hours have passed since the murder. Still, no arrest has been made. Police are trying to save the accused at the behest of a Punjab minister," senior Akali leader and former state minister Bikram Singh Majithia said while addressing the media on Thursday evening.

He also accused the Batala Senior Superintendent of police of acting as a "spokesperson" of the ruling Congress, asking how he ruled out the political angle in the case "without conducting proper investigation".

Majithia said the SSP was even trying to "mislead" people by stating that the murder took place was due to a land dispute.

He alleged that police were not recording the statement of victim's family "under political pressure".

The Batala police has already ruled out any political motive behind the killing.

Inspector General of Police (Border Range) S P S Parmar said not arrest had been made in the case so far.