NRI family lands in Punjab jail, hours after marriage

Hoshiarpur (Punjab): A family of NRIs from Britain and the US, including a groom who rode an elephant for his wedding, his mother and his sisters, have landed in prison here - just hours after the ceremony.

At least nine members of the NRI family have already been arrested by the Punjab Police and efforts are being made to nab others as well, police officials said on Tuesday.

All of them are British and American passport holders.

The NRI family, which comes from London's Southall area and Leicester city in Britain, and Connick and Woodland towns in California, US, have been accused of attacking the owner of a popular marriage hall, Green Fields, in this town Saturday evening.

The owner of the marriage hall and his son were injured in the incident after a mob of 15-20 'baraatis' (groom's party) attacked them inside their house. The attack was provoked by the theft of a bag belonging to the wedding party from inside the marriage hall complex.

The groom Gurpreet Singh, 27, his mother Sukhwinder Kaur, both from Southall, and two sisters, Reema Bains and Seema Sanghera, both from California, have been lodged in the Hoshiarpur jail after a local court sent them to judicial remand on Monday.

Others arrested included relatives of the groom, Amarjit Singh and Salwinder Singh Sohal from Leicester in Britain, Amarinder Singh Sohal from Bremmen-Norway, and Inderjit Singh and Harjit Singh from California.

The groom's father, Gurdev Singh, has also been booked but has not yet been arrested.

The police have confiscated the passports of those NRIs named in the case registered here. The family has been charged with attempt to murder, criminal trespass, rioting, assault and robbery under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and various sections of the Arms Act as the marriage hall owner accused them of firing weapons.

"We are investigating the matter. The accused were arrested within hours of the incident from their village," an investigating officer said. The NRIs hail from a village near Mahilpur town, 20 km from here, and had flown down specially for the wedding.