Khalsa’s death: K’shetra cops booked for abetment to suicide

Vishal Joshi

Tribune News Service

Kurukshetra, March 21

A day after Sikh activist Gurbaksh Singh Khalsa jumped to death at his native village Thaska Ali, the police on Wednesday registered an abetment-to-suicide case against unidentified police personnel.

Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Dharamvir Singh assured protesting Sikhs that the police would suspend erring policemen.

But Khalsa’s supporters demanded copies of an FIR and suspension orders as a precondition to cremate the body. The last rites were not performed till the news report was filed.

On Tuesday afternoon, Khalsa started a dharna demanding release of Sikhs who have completed their jail sentence. Later, he climbed a 80-ft water tank in protest.

Khalsa’s son, Jhujhar Singh, told The Tribune that after sunset, a team of policemen climbed the tank to force his father to come down.

“My father kept on warning the policemen to stay away as he was holding a peaceful dharna. He asked them to hold a discussion on Wednesday morning. But the policemen were adamant on bringing him down. As they approached him, my father jumped off the tank to avoid harassment,” Jhujhar said.

Khalsa reportedly suffered fatal head injuries. He was rushed to hospital in Kurukshetra in a police vehicle. He was declared dead there.

Jhujhar denied the charge of Khalsa carrying petrol with him atop the water tank. “My father did not have any life-threatening material. He did not intend to commit suicide. A careless police action drove him to death. I want strict action against policemen who dealt with the situation casually,” he added.

Earlier in the day, scores of Khalsa’s sympathisers from Haryana and Punjab, including former militant Wassan Singh Zaffarwal, Mohkam Singh and Akali leaders, gathered at Thaska Ali village to protest the death.

Jhujhar blamed the district authorities for showing disrespect to Khalsa’s body.

“On reaching Lok Naik Jai Prakash Civil Hospital in Kurukshetra on Wednesday morning, we were told that the postmortem had already been conducted and the body was sent to the village. Instead of handing over the body to the family, the police took the body in their custody,” he said.

The ADC said the postmortem was videographed. He told the gathering the police had climbed atop the water tank to ensure Khalsa’s safety.

The protesters accepted ADC’s assurance of an investigation to fix responsibility of erring cops.