Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today took a strong note of the killing of a pastor in Ludhiana and ordered the police to act against those trying to incite communal passions in the state.
He asked Punjab DGP Suresh Arora that the police and intelligence in the state to co-ordinate with each other to ensure prevention of recurrence of such incidents in the future, an official spokesperson said.
The DGP has been directed take all possible steps to ensure law and order is maintained in the state and the communal harmony is not disrupted.
Attempts to vitiate the state's environment would not be tolerated at any cost, Amarinder said today, warning of strict action against any police officer found guilty of dereliction of duty in this connection.
Given the sensitivity of the incident in which pastor Sultan Masih was shot dead by two unidentified motorcycle- borne assailants, the chief minister has asked the police to closely monitor the situation to prevent any fallout, the spokesman said.
He also asked the police to coordinate with local Christian leaders for support in defusing the situation resulting from the killing.
Masih was shot dead by two bike-borne assailants at Salem Tabri locality in Ludhiana late last night.
Amarinder pointed out that he had already taken up with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the matter of expediting CBI probes into cases of other targeted killings, including of RSS, Hindu and Shiv Sena leaders in the past.
During the meeting with Modi in Delhi last on July 11, Amarinder had requested central intelligence and investigation agencies assistance in solving these cases.
In August last year, senior RSS leader Jagdish Gagneja was shot at in Jalandhar by unidentified assailants, he died at a hospital a month later.
In April this year, Punjab RSS chief Brij Bhushan Singh Bedi had demanded that the state government ask the CBI to expedite its probe into Gagneja's killing.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) condemned the killing and lashed out at the Congress-led state government for the alleged breakdown of law and order, saying "no one was safe" in Punjab.
Published 16 July 2017, 14:29 IST