
Gurdaspur: The son of a senior Akali leader
and his two friends sustained injuries after they were
allegedly attacked by unidentified persons here today, police
said.
Chairman of Milkfed, Gurdaspur, Amarjot Singh Babbehali,
son of former chief parliamentary secretary Gurbachan Singh
Babbehali, and his friends -- Sikandar Singh and Gagan
Harpreet Singh - were allegedly waylaid and attacked with
sharp weapons by three unidentified persons, they said.
Amarjot Singh Babbehali and his friends were to their
village Babbehali.
The victims were rushed to a hospital in Amritsar, police
said.
"We are investigating the sequence of events that led to
the incident," SSP Gurdaspur H S Bhullar said. He, however,
added that no case had been registered so far.
Meanwhile, former deputy chief minister and Shiromani
Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal condemned the
incident.
In a statement, the SAD president said attacks on Akali
leaders and their kith and kin were going on "unabated" with a
former legislator's son and two others being stabbed at
Babbehali village.
The SAD president alleged that Congress leaders, were
responsible for provoking their party workers to attack
Akalis.
"During the campaign for the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha bypoll
Navjot Singhh Sidhu delivered an inflammatory speech against
Gurbachan Babbehali in front of his house in Babbehali village
which set the tone for the attack," SAD chief alleged.
Efforts made to reach Sidhu for his reaction successful.
Badal asked the Congress government to take steps to
check the "rampant killing of heads of religious organisations
in Punjab", saying such incidents could create communal
tension and lead to turmoil.
The recent targeting of RSS leader Ravinder Gosain in
Ludhiana and Hindu Sangharsh Samiti leader Vipin Sharma in
Amritsar yesterday had created a "fear psychosis" in the minds
of the people who felt a deliberate attempt was being made to
stoke communal passions, he said.