"He was lured into going there," said the family of a 36-year-old man, who was found mutilated at the farmers' protest site on the Singhu border in the wee hours of Friday, 15 October.
The deceased has been identified as Lakhbir Singh, a resident of Cheema Khurd village in Jalandhar's Tarn Taran district and a labourer by occupation.
Media reports suggest that he was murdered by persons belonging to the Nihang Sikh community, over the purported sacrilege of the the Sikh holy book Guru Granth Sahib.
"He took Rs 50 and said he was going for work in Chabal and will return after 7 days. I thought he went to work there. He was not such a person (to commit desecration of Guru Granth Sahib). The perpetrators must be punished," Raj Kaur, sister of labourer Lakhbir Singh, told news agency ANI on Friday.
Singh, who is survived by his adoptive parents, sister, wife, and three children, was addicted to drugs, India Today reported, citing his family.
"He was lured in to going there. It should be probed and he must get justice," his father-in-law was quoted as saying by ANI.
Singh had no political affiliations and no previous criminal records, as per the police.
What Had Happened
Lakhbir Singh was found lynched and tied to a police barricade at the Singhu border early on Friday morning. He was reportedly found in a pool of blood, with his legs chopped and his left wrist severed.
The deceased, a resident of Punjab, had been categorised as belonging to a Scheduled Caste (SC). Disturbing visuals of the incident were circulated on social media shortly after the body was discovered.
Hours after a case was registered at Sonipat's Kundli station for murder, a man belonging to the Nihang Sikh community was detained in connection with the crime. The detained man, Sarabjit Singh, was taken to the Crime Branch, Kharkhoda, and then the Kundli police station civil hospital for a medical examination.
Sarabjit Singh will be produced before a court on Saturday.
(With inputs from ANI and India Today)
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