Mansa, Oct 28 Sister of Daljit Singh, a 35-year-old man who died in Bhamme Kalan village here a day ago, claimed on Wednesday that he died of a drug overdose and sought that the supply of drugs be stopped, even as police registered a murder case against three people.
Tension prevailed in Mansa on Tuesday as police took away Daljit’s body when his family was sitting on a dharna and was intending to carry it to the site where slain anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota’s family was holding a protest.
Daljit’s sister Amarjit Kaur and wife Paramjit Kaur on Wednesday joined the protest by Jhota’s family.
Speaking to mediapersons, Amarjit Kaur claimed that her brother had no enmity with anyone; he went out with someone on Tuesday and allegedly died of drug overdose.
She also criticised the police for taking his body away during Tuesday’s dharna.
“We demand justice in the matter. We want the drug supply to be stopped,” Kaur said.
Asked whether the family has given consent for cremation, she answered in the negative.
However, a senior police officer on Wednesday said a murder case has been registered against three people on a complaint filed by Daljit’s father.
Several opposition leaders have slammed Punjab Police and the state government over the incident.
Former chief minister and Congress MP Charanjit Singh Channi joined the ongoing protest in Mansa. He alleged that police were trying to project Daljit’s death as a murder case so that it could not be shown as a drug overdose death.
Punjab Congress chief Pargat Singh asked how Mansa Police came to know so quickly that Daljit did not die of a drug overdose and that it was a murder case.
Speaking to reporters in Chandigarh, Singh accused the AAP government of misusing the state police.
Opposition parties, which have been targeting the Bhagwant Mann government over alleged drug menace in Punjab, said that “snatching a dead man’s body” and assaulting those seeking accountability and justice for a “drug overdose” death is disgraceful.
On Tuesday, Mansa Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Choudhary claimed that Daljit’s body was thrown by someone on the roadside and three main accused had been rounded up.
Daljit’s family had held a dharna and wanted to take his body to Mansa, where Jhota’s family and others were staging a protest demanding justice.
As protesters blocked a road, police used mild force, claiming that several mischievous elements had joined the group and were trying to disturb law and order.
Visuals of police lifting Daljit’s body and carrying it across a road divider before pushing it into a vehicle were shared by several opposition leaders on their social media handles.
Police had also detained several protesters, including Waris Punjab de leader Lakha Singh Sidhana and a woman activist.
Officials on Wednesday said an FIR for attempt to murder has been registered in connection with an alleged attack on a police team on Tuesday.
Two weeks after anti-drug activist Jhota was shot dead in Mansa town, his family has refused to allow a post-mortem until their various demands, including Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s resignation, are met.
(PTI News)
