Crime

The sleepy town of Talwandi Sabo where Takht Damdama Sahib is situated, witnesses large crowds of devotees every year on Baisakhi, the day when Guru Gobind Singh baptised Sikhs and formed the Khalsa Panth in 1699. Basing strict 'bandobast' on an intelligence input, Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav made heavy deployment of police in Talwandi Sabo, especially around the 'pandal' set up by Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) where member of parliament Simranjit Singh Mann was to deliver a speech.

The encounter took place on Thursday. The FIR says, "Just as we instructed our car driver to overtake the motorcycles the two accused were trying to flee in, and loudly asked them to stop, they accelerated and tried to take a turn at a side road to escape, though another team had already surrounded them." The two were repeatedly warned but they did not stop and their motorcycles slipped and fell near a babool tree.