Officials shifted in Punjab's Gurdaspur after violence

Chandigarh, March 31 (IANS) The Punjab government Saturday suspended two senior police officers in Gurdaspur and transferred the deputy commissioner after communal violence left an 18-year-old youth dead.

Gurdaspur district police chief Varinder Pal Singh and Deputy Superintendent of Police Manpreet Singh were suspended, an official spokesman said here Saturday.

The state government also transferred Gurdaspur Deputy Commissioner Mohinder Singh.

Pathankot Deputy Commissioner Sibin C. has been given additional charge of Gurdaspur district. Similarly, Pathankot SSP, S.P. Kalia, has been given additional charge of the district.

The administration had to impose curfew in Gurdaspur town, 210 km from here, Thursday evening after a communal clash over the controversy over hanging of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) terrorist Balwant Singh Rajoana, for the 1995 assassination of then Punjab chief minister Beant Singh.

Police opened fire to quell the clash and Jaspal Singh, who was an engineering student, was killed.

The family of the deceased had Saturday refused to cremate his body till action was taken against officials responsible for the police firing.