Moga deaths: In village for 12 yrs, yet tantrik was stranger to most

Kotla Mehar Singh Wala (Moga), July 17
Not much is known about the prime suspect in the killing of five persons during a tantric ritual here on Wednesday evening.
Prime suspect and tantrik Harinder Pal Singh Sodhi (80) had moved into the village gurdwara and had started conducting prayers around 12 years ago.
Jhirmil Singh, village Sarpanch, said, “Most of the villagers don’t know much about Sodhi as he used to stay mostly within the gurdwara.”
On Wednesday evening, Chamkaur Singh, alias Bachint Singh, a resident of Dhaban Basti, invited Sodhi to perform a ritual in his house.
In a room on the exterior of the house, the ritual started at around 11 pm. Chamkaur’s relatives residing in the village — Sandeep Kaur, a daughter of Chamkaur Singh; Raj Pal Kaur, a widow; Dharminder Singh; Akashdeep Singh; and Sony Singh — took part in the ritual.
As Chamkaur, his wife and two sons were not actively participating in the ritual, they went to sleep in another room of the house.
This morning, the bodies of the five participants with their throats slit were found in a pool of blood. Symptoms suggested that the victims were poisoned. Sodhi’s body was found in the courtyard.
The Chamkaur family claimed they heard no noise of the killings. The police suspect that under some tantric rituals, Sodhi must have served poison-laced ‘prashad’ to the victims. When they lost consciousness, they were hacked to death. The police have detected blood stains on Sodhi’s clothes and hands.
Surprisingly, Baljinder Singh, the younger son of Chamkaur Singh, was seen repeatedly asking the police not to consider it a case of murder, but of “spiritual ascent”.
Jhirmil Singh, Sarpanch, Kotla Mehar Singh Wala, said he came to know about the incident at 9 am today and immediately, the police were informed.