Pall of gloom descends on Indian-American Sikh police officer''s uncle''s house in Kapurthala

Kapurthala, September 28

A pall of gloom descended on Kartar Singh's house at Dhaliwal Bet village in the district on hearing about the death of his nephew Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal, an Indian-American-Sikh police officer who was shot and killed in the US State of Texas.

The relatives and villagers assembled at the house of Dhaliwal's uncle Kartar Singh to mourn the death of the police officer.

Singh, 80, told the media that the family received the information about the death at 5.00 am on Saturday through a phone call from a relative. Then they tried to contact the police officer's family in the US to confirm the news.

Dhaliwal, who made headlines in the US when he was allowed to grow a beard and wear a turban on the job, was shot and killed in an "ambush-style" attack in a "ruthless, cold-blooded way", a senior official of Harris County said on Saturday.

Singh said his nephew was brought up by his family as Dhaliwal's father was based in the US.

Dhaliwal, who was in his early 40s, left for the US in 1995 after completing his class 12 in a village school and joined the police service as deputy sheriff about 10 years ago.

Singh said they have to bear the irreparable loss and someone from the family will go to the US to attend Dhaliwal's cremation. PTI