Punjab: Group Defying Lockdown Chops Policeman's Hand, Injures 2

In a brutal incident, a police officer's hand was chopped off and two other officers were injured after a group of people attacked them at a vegetable market in Punjab's Patiala this morning. The police claimed that they were attacked when they tried to maintain the lockdown.

The officer, Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police Harjeet Singh, whose hand was chopped off and the other two cops who were injured have been admitted to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh, for treatment.

According to the police, the accused were armed with swords and iron rods.The attackers were wearing Nihang dresses and have a criminal background, senior police officials said.

Punjab police chief Dinkar Gupta told NDTV that a vehicle carrying Nihangs, a religious sect, had "rammed through several barricades near the vegetable market" at around 6 am. When the police tried to stop them and asked for their curfew passes, the violators attacked the police, he said.

After the incident, the group of attackers fled to the Nihang Gurdwara Saheb. The police then nabbed them and asked them to surrender. Seven people were arrested from the Gurdwara in Balbera village and a case of attempt to murder was registered against them.

"Seven fugitives, donning the robes of Nihangs, have been arrested from Gurdwara in village Balbera. One of these was injured in police firing and has been rushed to a hospital. The operation was supervised by IG Patiala Zone, Jatinder Singh Aulakh," KBS Sidhu, Special Chief Secretary, Punjab said.

"After a two-hour stand-off, a team of mediators headed by the local sarpanch, entered the gurdwara. After another half an hour the perpetrators surrendered," Gupta said. The police also recovered arms, cash, bags full of cannabis and petrol bombs from the gurdwara.

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