Panch shot dead by political rivals

Barnala, Sep 9 (UNI) A young Panch belonging to Congress Party was shot dead last night allegedly by his Akali Dal rivals following a feud over the recently held polls to the post of Sarpanch in tallewal village of this district.

According to police sources, Akali Dal Sarpanch Balraj Singh has been arrested while search was on for others in the case registered under sections 302, 25, 27, 54, 148, 149 on the complaint lodged by Mukund Singh, father of the deceased Jagseer Singh.

According to Mukund Singh, Jagseer had filed a writ petition in Punjab and Haryana High Court and had also approached the Election Commission, urging that the election of Akali Dal supporter Balraj Singh as the Sarpanch be countermanded as he did not have the majority support and was declred elected due to undue influence of administration and government.

Mukund Singh said that yesterday both the groups had clashed over the issue and due to political feud, Jagseer was shot dead by Balraj Singh and his supporters later in the night.

A large number of police personnel were deployed in the village to avoid any untoward incident as a large number of people including Congress leaders took out a procession before cremating Jagseer's body.

UNI XC JN MMS2056