Chandigarh, March 6 (IANS) Even as the Budget session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha is underway and the government is highlighting its claims of maintaining an “upright” law and order situation while projecting policing initiatives, a village sarpanch was shot dead in broad daylight in Moga district on Friday.

Sarpanch of Patto village, Harvinder Singh Happy, was gunned down in the Baghapurana area of Moga.

According to initial reports, armed assailants arrived in a vehicle, surrounded the sarpanch and opened indiscriminate fire. He was rushed to a nearby hospital but succumbed to his injuries during treatment.

Reacting to the incident, Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia alleged that the killing exposed the gap between the government’s claims and the ground reality.

Citing sources, he said there had been intelligence inputs regarding threats to the sarpanch but preventive action was not taken.

Majithia said the development reminded many of the alleged intelligence failure in the killing of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala in 2022 and alleged the state machinery had failed to protect elected representatives.

Following the incident, Majithia said on one hand the government was patting itself on the back over the law and order situation during the first day of the Budget session, while on the other hand a sarpanch had been murdered in broad daylight in Moga.

He alleged the name of AAP MLA Amritpal Singh Sukhanand had surfaced in connection with the killing and demanded that the case be investigated by an independent agency.

The Akali leader further said earlier also a sarpanch had been killed in Tarn Taran near the residences of the Deputy Commissioner and the Senior Superintendent of Police.

Majithia claimed that central agencies had shared intelligence inputs regarding threats to the Moga sarpanch but the information was allegedly not taken seriously by the state police, drawing parallels with what he described as the intelligence failure in the killing of Sidhu Moosewala.

–IANS

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