CHANDIGARH: Harmehtab Singh alias Farid, great grandson of former chief minister of Patiala and East Punjab States Union ( PEPSU) Gian Singh Rarewale was finally arrested on Thursday by the Chandigarh Police on charges of allegedly murdering Akansh Sen—the nephew of Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh.
Farid was accompanying Balraj Singh Randhawa who ran over Sen in a BMW car leaving him dead in Sector 9 on February 9. However, the main accused Randhawa is still at large. Highly placed sources said that Farid was arrested during a raid early morning on Thursday from his friend’s flat in Delhi.
The police had rounded up his cousin, who led them to his location in Delhi. Farid has been brought to Chandigarh and is being interrogated at Crime Branch office by deputy inspector general Alok Kumar, senior superintendent of police Eish Singhal and other senior police officers. Twenty-Eight-year-old Sen who ran Boom Box café in Sector 9, was run over by the BMW car thrice and had suffered 13 grievous injuries which led to his death.
“We hope to arrest Randhawa soon, as now Farid is in our custody,’’ said a police official and added that Randhawa is the resident of Sector 77 in Mohali. Chandigarh District and Sessions Judge Balbir Singh, while dismissing Farid’s pre-arrest bail plea on Wednesday, had called Sen’s murder as a heinous offence of serious nature, which leaves no ground for granting anticipatory bail.
On the day of the incident, Akansh along with a friend had gone to a common friend’s place in Sector 9 where they had a party. Shera, a friend of the deceased had an altercation with the accused there. Akansh left for Sector 18 but came back fearing his friend might have a tiff with the accused and thus entered into an altercation. The accused then sat in the BMW and crushed the deceased under the wheels of the car. Akansh was rushed to the PGIMER where he was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).
A case was registered in Sector 3 Police Station against Farid and Randhawa in an attempt to murder after Akansh succumbed to his injuries. Also Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh has said that he will raise this issue with union home minister Raj Nath Singh.