Deceased GS Khalsa, Accused Col Pherochichi (retd)

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, March 14

Col Surjit Singh Pherochichi (retd), who had contested the 2012 Assembly elections from Qadian on the PPP ticket, allegedly shot dead 80-year-old Gurbachan Singh Khalsa, vice-president of SAD’s Gurdaspur unit, at his native village of Pherochichi in the Qadian Assembly segment late last evening.The 65-year-old retired officer’s son, Sumeet Singh, is an advocate and his daughter a serving judge. Sumeet reportedly  assaulted Khalsa with a hockey stick before his father pulled out a .9 mm pistol and shot him in the neck. The two are absconding. They have been booked under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC on a complaint filed at the Bhaini Mina Khan police station. Jasdeep Singh, SSP, said an accomplice of the accused, Sajjan Singh, had been detained.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Khalsa was jailed along with former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Ujjagar Singh Sekhwan, father of former Akali minister SS Sekhwan, during the Akali Dharam Yudh Morcha in the late Seventies. Enjoying immense respect in the area, district Akali leaders would often turn to him for advice on political matters.  Sources said for the past few days, Col Surjit Singh, who was considered close to a Congress leader, had been spitting venom against the Akalis. Khalsa had complained to the police about it.“Ever since the election results on March 11, he had been issuing threats to Akali leaders and supporters. Standing on the roof of his house, a loudspeaker in hand, he would hurl abuses at the Sekhwan family and other leaders. On a few occasions, he had even used the village gurdwara’s public address system to target the Akalis,” said a village elder.  A bleeding Khalsa was taken to the Gurdaspur Civil Hospital where he was declared “brought dead”. His death sparked angry protests by SAD and AAP workers. The police had a tough time controlling the crowd at the hospital. Alarmed, the SSP sent a SWAT team and 200 police personnel to Gurdaspur.Khalsa’s last rites were performed at Pherochichi village on the SSP’s assurance that the accused would be arrested within 48 hours.Col Pherochichi (retd) had reportedly backed Congress’ Fatehjung Bajwa,  elected MLA from Qadian in the just-concluded polls. The latter, however, claimed he had nothing to do with his campaign. “Not even a primary member of the Congress, he is a known Akali loyalist. I have nothing to do with him. Rumours in this regard are being spread by vested interests,” he said.Pherochichi shot into limelight in 2012 when he was allotted the PPP ticket from Qadian and contested against bigwigs Charanjit Kaur Bajwa (Congress), SS Sekhwan (SAD) and Sucha Singh Chhotepur, then in the fray as an Independent.Pherochichi polled just 1,800 votes. He dumped the PPP for the SAD after enlisting Sekhwan’s support and was given a post in the party’s backward classes cell. In 2015, he was honoured with a ‘siropa’ by PS Badal, then CM. Owing to his ties with the SAD, he got his wife elected as the village sarpanch. Later, he severed ties with the SAD and joined the Congress.