One dead as police, farmers clash in Sangrur

One dead as police, farmers clash in Sangrur
Sangrur: Early morning raids at the houses of farmer leaders in Longowal and subsequent attempts of farmers to block the Badbar toll plaza on the Sangrur-Barnala road here led to a clash between cops and farmers, leaving one farmer dead and seven policemen injured.

Rajpal Singh, a member of the district committee of BKU (Azad) said: “We had to go to Chandigarh to demand the early release of financial aid to flood-affected farmers. But the police arrested our leaders and stopped us.”

“Then we decided to block a toll plaza, but the cops did not allow us to go to that site as well. When we tried to cross barricades, they lathicharged us. One farmer was killed and seven others injured.”

The deceased farmer has been identified as Pritam Singh. Sangrur SSP Surendra Lamba said: “During the clash, SHO Sunam was run over by a tractor-trailer and has suffered serious injuries. Pritam Singh was crushed by the same vehicle. There was no lathicharge by the police, we only tried to stop them.”