Suresh Raina, a former batsman on the Indian cricket team, has made an appeal to the Punjab police to find out who was behind the killing of his uncle, Ashok Kumar, near Pathankot in Punjab.
Mr. Raina took to Twitter saying, “What happened to my family is Punjab was beyond horrible. My uncle was slaughtered, my bua & both my cousins had severe injuries. Unfortunately, my cousin also passed away last night after battling for life for days. My bua is still very very critical & is on life support.”
Ashok Kumar died after being attacked by a group of people at night between August 19 and 20 at Thariyal village. Four members of the family were also injured. Mr. Ashok’s son Kushal, who was undergoing medical treatment, succumbed to injuries on August 31. The victims were sleeping on the terrace of their house when they were attacked. The police are yet to make an arrest.
Tagging the Chief Minister’s Office, Mr. Raina tweeted, “Till date we don’t know what exactly happened that night & who did this. I request @PunjabPoliceInd to look into this matter. We at least deserve to know who did this heinous act to them. Those criminals should not be spared.”
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Pathankot, Gulneet Singh Khurana, told The Hindu that so far, no arrests have been made in the case. “Investigation is under way and we are probing the matter from all possible angles,” said Mr. Khurana.
A case under Sections 458, 459, 460 of the Indian Penal Code has been registered.
Mr. Ashok’s wife, Asha Rani, is undergoing treatment at a local hospital while Satya Devi, his 80-year-old mother, and his other son Appan have been discharged.
Punjab Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta has set up a special investigation team.
“Inter-state raids are being conducted to hunt out suspects involved in past crimes of similar nature, and more than 35 suspects are under the scanner. Few persons from Himachal and Uttar Pradesh have been identified as suspicious and their mobile numbers and whereabouts are being located. Raids have also been carried out in Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran and Amritsar in coordination with local police,” he said.
