Punjab CM visit to Moosewala's house, some villagers hold protest against police

Mansa, Jun 3 (PTI) A few people held a protest against the Punjab Police in Mansa on Friday for allegedly stopping them from entering the Moosa village by deploying heavy security ahead of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's visit.

However, the police stated that no one was being stopped from entering the village.

The chief minister is scheduled to visit the house of slain Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala to express his condolences to the family on Friday.

The ruling Aam Aadmi Party MLA Gurpreet Singh, who reached Moosewala's house ahead of Mann's visit, also faced protest.

The protesters also raised slogans against the state government.

"Our cars are being stopped from entering the village. Our relatives' vehicles are not being allowed to enter," a villager claimed.

Senior officials of the administration and the police reached the spot of protest to calm down the situation.

On Thursday, Punjab ministers Harpal Singh Cheema and Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal met the family of Moosewala in Mansa to condole the death of the singer.

Moosewala was shot dead by some unidentified assailants in Punjab's Mansa district on May 29, a day after the state government curtailed his security cover. His cousin and a friend, who were travelling in a jeep with him, were also injured in the attack.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court was on Thursday informed that the security cover of 424 protectees which was scaled down temporarily will be restored from June 7.

The Punjab government had curtailed the security cover in the wake of "Ghallughara week" and the anniversary of Operation Bluestar, which was carried out by the Army to flush out militants from the Golden Temple complex in June 1984.

At that time, the Punjab Police had said that the security personnel were "being withdrawn on a purely temporary basis in connection with an emergent law and order duty".