60-year-old BJP leader beaten to death; the party accuses the AAP of having deteriorated law and order

According to the family, the men who murdered Bharat Bhushan Sharma were known drug addicts and all were intoxicated when they attacked the elderly man.

Police said a group of disbelievers were ‘creating hooliganism’ outside the residence of Sharma (60) during Janmashtami festivities and when he tried to arrest them they attacked him with sharp weapons. When Sharma’s son, Raj Kumar Sharma, tried to intervene, they injured him as well.

Ludhiana BJP District Chairman Pushpinder Singal said the men allegedly pushed Sharma to the ground and then repeatedly punched him. “He was then taken to a local hospital where doctors pronounced him dead. He was taken to DMCH anyway, but he was already deceased,” Singal said.

“The incident happened near Tutiyan Wala Mandir when a group of men were rowdy outside Sharma’s house. They were drug addicts and probably also had been using drugs at the time of the incident,” he said.

The BJP leader then raised his arms against the ruling AAP government in the state and claimed that law and order in Punjab had deteriorated under the new regime, with killings and robberies having become a matter of routine. “We will not cremate the body until all the accused are arrested. A group of hooligans openly beat an elderly man and killed him. Is this how the AAP manages law and order in the state? he asked.

According to Raj Kumar Sharma, the victim’s son, the defendants were using drugs and rowdying outside their house. Her father tried to protest the same and asked them to leave. Instead of leaving, the accused assaulted his father as a result of which he fell unconscious. Raj Kumar added that he intervened but that the accused also attacked him with a sharp weapon, before fleeing.

An FIR under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not constituting murder), 323 (willful bodily harm), 148 (riot, armed with lethal weapons) and 149 (unlawful assembly) of the IPC has been registered against persons not identified at the number 4 division police station.

According to the details, Sharma had unsuccessfully contested the election of Ludhiana Municipal Corporation on a BJP ticket. He was also responsible for the BJP circle for the Shivpuri region.

Sub-Inspector Gurjeet Singh, SHO of Number 4 Division Police Station, said police had recovered CCTV footage in which the defendants had been captured and were trying to identify them. He also added that before beating
the leader of the BJP, the accused had visited Tutian Wala Mandir where the Janmashtami celebrations were taking place. After coming out of the temple, they started creating hooliganism outside the BJP leader’s house.