Singhu border murder | 3 accused sent to police custody

Police recover blood-stained clothing, weapons used in assault

The body of Lakhbir Singh was found on Friday tied to a barricade at the Singhu border with a hand chopped off and multiple wounds caused by sharp-edged weapons.

The three men arrested in connection with the murder at the Singhu border of a man over alleged desecration of holy Sikh scripture, were remanded to six days in police custody by the local court here on Sunday. Led by accused Narain Singh, the three confessed before the court to having committed the murder, said Haryana Police.

Four persons have been arrested by the Haryana Police so far in connection with the murder of Lakhbir Singh near the farmers’ protest site at Singhu border on Friday. While Narain Singh, Bhagwant Singh and Govind Preet were arrested on Saturday, Sarabjit was arrested a day earlier.

Explained | Who are the Nihangs?

“Narain Singh told the court that he along with the three had committed the murder over desecration of the holy Sikh scripture. The three told the court that the man had committed a mistake and they punished him,” said Virender Singh, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Law and Order, Sonipat.

Mr. Singh heads a Special Investigation Team probing the gruesome murder. Mayank Gupta, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Kharkhoda, heads another SIT in the case. In addition, several Crime Branch teams are also involved in the investigation.

Before his arrest on Saturday, Narain Singh, talking to the media, had said that Lakhbir Singh had been “punished” allegedly for sacrilege.

Mr. Singh told The Hindu that blood-stained clothes of Narain Singh, who had surrendered before the Punjab Police in Amritsar, and the sword used by him to commit the murder were recovered. “Narain, who heads one of the deras , wore the same set of clothes at the time of his arrest which he wore during the commission of crime. He also got his sword recovered,” said Mr. Singh, not ruling out more arrests in the case.

Hours after Narain Singh had surrendered in Punjab on Saturday, Bhagwant Singh and Govind Preet, both Nihang Sikhs, reached the Kundli Police Station late in the evening to surrender in the murder case. Bhagwant, a native of Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh, and Govind, a resident of Jalandhar in Punjab, are both part of Fatehgarh Dera in Punjab.