A criminal case was registered in the city police station against Mr Devinder Singh Attri, Station House Officer (SHO), police station, Rampura Phul, Mr Harbans Singh, ASI, in charge, Vardhman police post, Mr Nini Bansal and three others for their alleged involvement in an attempt to kill the manager of local Sepal hotel after they were denied liquor on the night of January 14.

Police sources said a case was registered under Sections 307, 148, 149 and 506 of the IPC against them on the complaint of the hotel-manager Rajinder Kumar Sharma. However, no arrest had been made so far.

Mr Kapil Dev, SSP, taking prompt action on the complaint of Mr Sharma, sent both Mr Attri and Mr Harbans Singh to police lines after placing them under suspension. A departmental probe had also been launched against them. The case registered against them was also being investigated by DSP (City), Mr Darshan Singh.

The police sources said Mr Harbans Singh, who was accompanied by five others, including Mr Attri, allegedly fired at Mr Sharma at night when they were denied liquor and food by him.

Information gathered by TNS revealed that Mr Harbans Singh, who fired several rounds at the manager and in the air along with others, also threatened him to implicate owner of the hotel into false criminal cases to teach them a lesson.

In an application moved to Chief Minister, Punjab, DGP, Punjab Police, and SSP, Bathinda, Mr Sharma, alleged that Mr Harbans Singh, along with five others, including Mr Attri, came to the hotel in a car. After parking the car in the porch of the hotel, they started dancing by playing the car music system on full volume.

He added that on hearing the noise, he and other staff members of the hotel approached them for not doing it. Instead of listening to their request, they started claiming that they were high-ranking police officials and, hence, they would teach them a lesson for obstructing them from dancing.

Then they ordered that they should be served with liquor and food. When they were told that they could not be provided with liquor and food at odd hours as the restaurant had closed, they became agitated and Mr Harbans Singh started firing. He also fired a shot towards Mr Sharma, but it did not hit him as he managed to save himself by turning to one side.