Punjab: Postmortem conducted, woman suspect held

Muktsar, Jan 10: The postmortem of the highly decomposed bodies of four children which were found from an abandoned rice sheller owned by former Congress MP Jagmeet Singh Brar last night, was carried out at the Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital at Faridkot this morning.

The Muktsar Sub-Divisional Magistrate and a DSP accompanied the dead bodies to Faridkot.

According to the police, the dead bodies of two boys and two girls had been partially burnt, so the identity could not be established.

A family of rag pickers belonging to the Bawaria community from Pothi Kalan village had on Novermebr 14 last year registered a complaint with the police that four of their childern, Ratni (13) and Ashki (9), both girls and Satbir and Bholi, both boys of 10 years were missing. An FIR in this respect had been registered.

Police officials suspect the bodies could be of those missing children. The parents of the missing children too were called by the police to the rice sheller this morning but they could not identify the dead bodies.

The bodies of children with their hands tied were found by a police patrol party from the deserted rice sheller, which had not been in operation since the last couple of years. The patrol party had gone to the godown to make arrangements for the stay of police personnel during the coming 'Maghi' mela here.

According to police officials a team of three forensic experts from Chandigarh arrived here soon after midnight to assist the local police in investigations. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) had been constituted to look into the matter.

Meanwhile the district police continued its raids on the hideouts of some suspects throughout the last 24 hours.

According to SSP G Nageshwar Rao certain suspects including a woman of the Bawaria community had been taken in for questioning. The woman had been named as a suspect by the parents of the missing children.

Meanwhile, Mr Brar, when contacted said the rice mill had ben closed for the last five years. He said the matter should be thoroughly investigated and that he would fully cooperate with the police.

Mr Brar admitted he had rivals within the Congress itself and would like the truth to come out. ''How can i stop people from making it a poll issue'', he responded to a querry about political ramifications of the crime in the assembly campaign.

Meanwhile Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) general secretary Sukhbir Singh Badal, who represents the Faridkot Parliamentary constituency alleged the matter could be related to the Nithari serial killings.

''We have no trust in the Punjab Police so the matter should be probed by the CBI,'' he added.

UNI