Tribune News Service

Tarn Taran, June 27

The local police have booked a medical store owner, his wife and accomplices in connection with the murderous attack on an ex-serviceman.The incident raises a question mark on police functioning besides pointing to a nexus between drug peddlers and police.The ex-serviceman, Jasbir Singh (53), has been protesting against the alleged drug abuse rampant in his native village for the past five years, which did not go down well with the accused.He was allegedly assaulted by the accused while he was taking tea at his house on Tuesday morning. He was admitted to the Civil Hospital with injuries on legs and arms.“I have been regularly complaining about the rampant sale of drugs by the medical store owner and his wife for years, but police did nothing to nail the couple,” he claimed.Following the incident, the police have now booked medical store owner Gurdeep Singh, wife Raj Kaur, and Happy and Kala of the same village. No arrests have been made as the accused are absconding following the incident.Jasbir alleged that Gurdeep was a quack and under the guise of running the medical store he peddled drugs. He said that around a year ago too, he had faced a similar attack but the authorities had pressed him to reach a compromise.He said his brother-in-law Ranjit Singh (45) had died of drug abuse five years ago and he was now looking after his sister’s family. He said the incident had left him shocked and he decided to fight the scourge. He said there were a number of points where drugs are sold openly while the police looked the other way. “Everybody knew this, but no one takes action,” he alleged.Taking a serious note of the incident, Deputy Commissioner Pardeep Sabharwal deputed Additional Deputy Commissioner Sandeep Rishi to probe the matter. Rishi visited the hospital on Wednesday and recorded the victim’s statement.Tarn Taran City SHO said raids were on to nab the culprits. He said the police were doing their job and no one indulging in the illegal sale of drugs would be spared.Couple booked on murder chargesMeanwhile, the Chabal police have booked one Sahib Singh and wife Babli of Jagatpur village on charges of murder, attempt to murder and under the NDPS Act in connection with the death of Gurjant Singh (23). Two of his friends Sarwan Singh and Harjit Singh of Emma village had fallen seriously ill after consuming drugs allegedly procured from the couple.SHO Manoj Kumar said the three had bought an intoxicant injection from the couple after using which Gurjant died and the other two fell unconscious.