Chandigarh, March 7 (IANS) The parents of singer Sidhu Moosewala, who was shot dead last year, on Tuesday staged a sit-in protest in front of the Punjab assembly complex in Chandigarh, seeking justice for their son.
Carrying placards, father Balkaur Singh and mother Charan Kaur told the media it has been almost a year of the crime occurrence and the main culprits have not been arrested.
They demanded that the case should be investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as crucial witnesses "are being eliminated and nothing is going in their favour."
"Enough time has been given to the police and the administration to act. But the reality is the case is being suppressed. We are forced to sit outside the Vidhan Sabha," the singer's father said.
"Till the state assembly is in session, we will sit outside in protest," he added.
The elderly couple were accompanied by Congress leaders, including Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa and state unit chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring.
Later the couple ended the sit-in protest on the assurance of Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal who assured them at the spot that the Aam Aadmi Party government was with them.
"It is your own government, you do not need to sit on dharna. All culprits, including the masterminds, will be arrested. Your meeting will be fixed with the chief minister after March 20," he said.
Dhaliwal told the media that 29 people have been arrested in the case, while two of the accused were killed in an encounter and five are to be brought from outside India for which the state is in touch with the Centre and other agencies.
Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, popularly known as Sidhu Moosewala, was shot dead by gangsters in Mansa district on May 29, 2022.
As a precautionary measure to contain and control the spread of Covid-19 pandemic, the Kartarpur Corridor was temporarily suspended from March 16, 2020. With the improvement in the Covid-19 situation, the corridor was reopened to pilgrims on November 17, 2021.
The blood samples were also recovered, from bathroom and kitchen, by forensic officials in the Chattarpur house, where both Poonawalla and Walkar had shifted on May 15, three days before her murder.
The injured have been admitted to a nearby hospital. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed grief at the incident and directed officials to ensure proper treatment to the injured.
Police recovered 50,000 yaba tablets and 200 grams of heroin from an ambulance during the operation. Upon intercepting the vehicle, the consignment of contraband substances was recovered. "We estimate the market value of these drugs to be 14.10 crore," the police officer added.
According to the Health Ministry source, the hackers targeted five physical servers of the hospital, but the data from these five servers have been retrieved now. Meanwhile, the hospital has also started functioning on online mode partially in some departments.
Mentioning high footfalls at airport terminals, SpiceJet has an advisory to passengers asking them to reach early and carry not more than one hand baggage of up to 7 kilograms. About Delhi airport, the airline said due to high footfalls, check-in and boarding is expected to take much longer than usual.
