Dalwinder pledges never to go abroad again

Sanjiv Kumar Bakshi

Mahilpur (Hoshiarpur), April 21

Escaping gallows and returning home after eight and a half years, Dalwinder Singh, who had gone to Abu Dhabi to help himself and his family from poverty and bad financial condition has now pledged not to go abroad again.

Dalwinder Singh, son of Banarasi Das, a resident of ward number 7, Mahilpur, said he had gone to Abu Dhabi on November 9, 2009, to work in a construction company, Royal International Construction. On November 4, 2011, he and some of the youths in his company had a scuffle with Ravindar Chauhan, a resident of Uttar Pradesh who had died. He was among the five people who were arrested on December 9, 2011 on the charges of murder and put in jail in Sharjah “I was innocent as I did not kill that man nor had I beaten him, but even then, I was booked as my fault was that I did not report the matter to the police,” said Dalwinder, adding, “That is why I was also proclaimed equally guilty of killing the youth. We were arrested and put in Central Jail, Sharjah.”

He said, “There were also many Punjabi youths like him there. The court sentenced all five people to death. Dr SP Oberoi came as a saviour at this a time. He took our case in his hands and started lobbying for the case, then the agreement between us and the family of the deceased Ravinder Chauhan was finalised. An amount of Rs 20 lakh blood money was given to the family of the deceased in which Rs 15 lakh was given by families of the five accused, including me, and Rs 5 lakh was given by Dr Oberoi.

He gave money to the family of the deceased and the Abu Dhabi court freed them on April 11, 2018. After completing the whole process, they were sent back to India from Dubai. “Reaching here, I pledged not to go abroad again, whatever be the conditions,” said Dalwinder.

Dalwinder’s father Banarasi Das, said Daljinder was the eldest of his three sons and he had sent him abroad, thinking he would support the family by earning well, but it was bad luck that he fell on bad times. “Now we will not even think of sending any of our children abroad. We will marry him and start some small business at home only,” said his father.