Samyukt Kisan
Morcha (SKM), the farmers’ body spearheading the protests against the Centre’s
three agriculture laws, vocally distanced itself from the brutal lynching and
murder that took place at Singhu on the Haryana-Delhi border on Friday.

In a statement
issued later in the day, the SKM said, “A Nihang group at the scene has claimed
responsibility, saying that the incident took place because of the deceased’s
attempt to commit sacrilege with regard to the Sarbaloh Granth.”

Also Read | Man lynched, arms chopped off at Singhu border protest site

The farmers’ body
condemned the killing and said that it wanted to make clear that none of the
parties — neither the Nihang Sikhs nor the deceased — have any ties to the
Samyukt Kisan Morcha.

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“The Morcha is
against sacrilege of any religious text or symbol, but that does not give
anyone the right to take the law into their own hands. We demand that the
culprits be punished according to law after investigating the allegation of
murder and conspiracy behind sacrilege,” the SKM statement said adding that the
farmers’ group will cooperate with the police and the administration.

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The incident

At around 5 am on
Friday morning, police found that the body of a man in his thirties, identified
as Lakhbir Singh from Punjab’s Tam Taran district, with the right foot and left
hand cut off at Singhu. Soon after, videos claimed to be of the incident
started doing the rounds on social media which show a group of Nihangs — a ‘warrior’
Sikh group — standing around Lakhbir Singh and asking him questions. The videos
have not been independently verified by Opoyi.

In the videos,
Nihangs are seen standing as the man lies on the ground in a pool of blood with
his chopped off left hand lying next to him, reports PTI.

Who was the
deceased?

One of the clips
accessed by PTI show the Nihangs claim that the man has been punished for
desecrating a holy book of the Sikhs. Senior farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohar told
PTI that the group of Nihangs, which allegedly killed the man, was not part for
the SKM’s protest. Kohar further said that the deceased was living with the same
group of Nihangs for some time.

Who are the
Nihangs?

The Nihangs are a
quasi-monastic military order among old-time Sikh warriors whose origin can be
traced to the creation of the Khalsa in 1699 by Guru Gobind Singh. The Nihangs
are said to follow a cenobitic lifestyle and live in communes called chaavnis
or cantonments.

What the police say? 

According to the Haryana police, an arrest in the case is expected soon. Police have registered a case under 302/34 of the IPC (murder) and a forensic team has examined the scene of crime. A postmortem is being conducted.