The Hindu : Dera head gets life term for murdering couple

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 03, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Dera head gets life term for murdering couple

FARIDKOT, MARCH 2. The Fast Track Court here has convicted and sentenced a ``Dera head'' and his three other accomplices for murdering a couple, at Khokhar village in Muktsar district on May 22, 1996, to life imprisonment.

According to the prosecution, the victim Iqbal Singh and his wife Harinder Kaur, residents of Muktsar town were devotees and permanent visitors of Chandermuni, head of the Dera at Khokhar village.

On the day of incident both Iqbal Singh and his wife reached the Dera to pay their obeisance. They had some dispute with the Dera chief Chandermuni for his illicit relations with another woman, a friend of Harinder Kaur. Both Iqbal and Harinder Kaur asked the Dera chief to desist from such relations otherwise they would expose him.

The Dera chief fearing tarnishing his image, conspired with his three other followers to eliminate the couple. They gave them some sedative, strangled and later dumped their bodies along the Rajasthan Canal.

On a complaint of deceased Iqbal Singh's father, police launched a hunt for the couple and later on recovered the bodies packed in gunny bags. One of the accused told the police about the involvement of the Dera chief in the murder who was later arrested. -- PTI

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