Crime incidents, kar sewa to plug breaches during floods stood out

Tribune News Service

Aparna Banerji

Jalandhar, December 24

Jalandhar and Kapurthala are two of the most important cities of the Doaba region. The recent upheavals caused by changing societal, migration and crime patterns seem to have equally impacted both - with happenings in one often getting mirrored in the other.

Cases that made headlines

• Congress leader and Bholath MLA Sukhpal Khaira was arrested on September 28 in a 2015 drugs case from his Chandigarh residence.
• In Sultanpur Lodhi, thousands of fish died in the Kali Bein coinciding with the Baisakhi mela celebrations on April 22.
• Resilience of residents of Sultanpur Lodhi stood out in the year for their formidable work and kar sewa across the flood-affected region in Kapurthala.
• Gruesome murder of Hardeep Singh Deepa, and the Dhillon Brothers’ suicide case, also rocked the city this year

Video of girl selling ‘chitta’ went viral

In September, the video of an 18-year-old girl selling chitta across the counter went viral, raising concerns over the extent of involvement of women in the drug trade. The notorious Subhanpur-Boot-Dogranwal-Badshahpur belt of Kapurthala continued to gain notoriety for the unprecedented drug cases being reported in the region.

While Kapurthala was historically the quainter (it’s an erstwhile princely state) and quieter of the two cities, year 2023 was marked by some unprecedented crimes, drug incidents and upheavals.

The year also stood out for the indomitable spirit of farmers and kar sewaks who plugged several bundhs in record time. The breaches had flooded villages in Sultanpur Lodhi. The year saw some brazen acts by the men in uniform, marking a first for many incidents of this kind in a single year.

In January, robbers fired at Phagwara-based constable Kuldip Singh during a car chase in Goraya. The cop succumbed to his injuries. The incident took place merely a month after constable Mandeep Singh was killed.

Time and again, the presence of overseas players in Kapurthala-based crimes also surfaced. Of the eight gang members who were arrested on February 6, two had overseas connections (one of whom was himself abroad).

In February, cases like extortion calls to a financier and a revenge crime planned against a graphic designer too had overseas residents as gang members or masterminds. By mid-2023, several serving and retired cops were booked at Kapurthala in June. In three FIRs, filed on June 19, June 24 and June 29, three police personnel were booked for accepting bribes to aid or free criminals.

The police personnel booked were SHO (March 2023) of the Kotwali police station, Kapurthala, Harjit Singh and station in-charge of the Subhanpur police station, ASI Paramjit Singh, who were accused of taking a bribe of Rs 21 lakh to free a drug smuggler in March this year. In other cases, ASI City, Kapurthala, Balwir Singh, and former SHO of the Sultanpur Lodhi police station Sarabjit Singh were booked on charges of bribery, etc.

In September, the video of an 18-year-old girl selling chitta across the counter went viral, raising concerns over the extent of involvement of women in the drug trade. The notorious Subhanpur-Boot-Dogranwal-Badshahpur belt of Kapurthala continued to gain notoriety for the unprecedented drug cases being reported (and the youths in throes of drugs) in the region.

The year also saw a clash in November during which a Home Guards jawan was killed and eight people, including four cops, injured in a clash between two factions of Nihangs in a firing incident at the Akal Bunga Sahib in Sultanpur Lodhi on November 23.

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