As Punjab gears up for another electoral cycle, the haunting memory of a pre-election bombing that claimed seven lives, five of them children, continues to cast a long shadow. Nearly nine years after the incident, the investigation into the Maur Mandi blast remains stalled, with not a single suspect apprehended, turning the case into a stark symbol of judicial delay and investigative failure.
The Night of the Carnage: A Rally Turned Inferno
On January 31, 2017, just four days before the Punjab assembly elections, a campaign meeting for Congress candidate Harminder Singh Jassi concluded on Truck Union Road in Maur town. Moments later, a Maruti 800 car, packed with explosives, detonated into a massive fireball. The explosion killed seven people on the spot. The victims included Jassi's office manager and, tragically, five children who were caught in the blast.
The Fugitive Accused and a Frozen Trial
Investigators linked the plot to three men associated with the Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda sect. The accused are Gurtej Singh ‘Kala’, a workshop worker; Avtar Singh, an electrician; and Amrik Singh ‘Shankar’, a security guard for the sect's head. Declared "proclaimed offenders" in 2018, they face charges of murder, attempted murder, and violations of the Explosives Act but have successfully evaded capture.
With the suspects on the run, the legal process has entered a rare, stagnant phase. The court is proceeding under Section 299 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which allows for the recording of witness testimony in the absence of the accused to preserve evidence. However, progress has been painfully slow. A charge sheet was filed in January 2020, but by January 2024, only one of 136 witnesses had been partially examined. The pace picked up slightly by August 2024, with seven witnesses examined, following a High Court petition to transfer the case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Seized Assets, But No Justice for Families
While the main accused remain at large, authorities have taken action against their assets. In August 2024, a sale warrant was executed for Amrik Singh's property, recovering approximately Rs 49 lakh. No properties were found for the other two suspects. Bathinda Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Amneet Kondal stated that lookout circulars are active and passports have been revoked, with police in touch with central agencies to identify more assets.
Yet, for the grieving families, these financial seizures offer cold comfort. As the ninth anniversary of the massacre approaches, the case explodes only in public memory on its anniversaries—never in a courtroom. The Maur Mandi blast stands as a grim reminder of a trail gone cold, despite a decade of claimed "regular raids," leaving a community waiting indefinitely for justice.
