Moga, Punjab (June 11, 2014): A former sarpanch of Daula village in Gidderbaha Balwinder Singh alias Toti, who had slapped an EGS teacher in 2011 which cost SAD Gidderhbaha seat in 2012, now slapped a a Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) of the Soil Conservation Department outside the SDM office complex in Gidderbaha on Tuesday (June 10). A case under Sections 353, 186, 323 and 506 of the IPC has been registered against him after he was arrested. Balwinder Singh Toti belongs to Punjab’s ruling party Shiromani Akal Dal (Badal).
The SDO, Mangat Rai Sharma, alleged the former sarpanch accompanied by his supporters thrashed him on the Malout-Bathinda highway outside the SDM office complex.
According to a news report published in The Tribune, Sharma alleged, “Toti had called me to Bharu village early this morning regarding the laying of irrigation pipes there, but I did not go. Later, he along with supporters came to the SDM office complex to lodge a complaint against me. He levelled corruption charges against me. When I moved out of my office, he thrashed me in front of my staff.”
The SDO said he had lodged a complaint against Toti with the police and the Gidderbaha SDM, Hardeep Singh Dhaliwal.
Toti, however, refuted the allegations. He said: “The Soil Conservation Department is laying some irrigation pipes in Daula and Bharu villages, but most of these are leaking. We had lodged a complaint with the SDO, but he did not bother. When we went to the SDM office complex to lodge a complaint against him, he staged a drama to frame me.”
On December 4, 2011, Toti slapped a woman activist of the EGS Teachers’ Union at Daula village when a delegation of 40 EGS teachers went to hand over a memorandum to Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal at a Sangat Darshan programme.
‘Toti’ slapped EGS teacher Varinder Kaur a number of times and pulled her by the hair. After the slapgate, the state government had to face lots of criticism and also lost Giderbaha assembly seat to congress candidate Raja Warring. This act of Sarpanch was even broadcasted by Alzazera and other foreign news channels.
