Jalandhar residents take out candle march post demise of Bodybuilder Varinder Ghumman

City residents joined in big numbers to take out a candle march on Friday evening seeking justice for the family of bodybuilder and actor Varinder Ghumman, who passed away last week during a surgery at an Amritsar-based hospital.

The residents held candles as they marched on the street of Model Town market. They held his posters and carried banners that read, “Justice for Varinder Ghumman” and “Carelessness or conspiracy”. Among those who attended the march were politicians, sportspersons, gym owners and his family members.

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Harinder S Ghumman, cousin of the deceased, said, “The sudden death of my brother has sent shock waves in society. Though it has been eight days since he passed away, we still have not been able to come to terms with the fact that he is no more. He was doing well when he had left from here for surgery of his right shoulder. We suspect that there could have been some negligence on the part of the doctors which led to his sudden death.”

Former MP Sushil Rinku and former councillor Amrik Bagri too marched for Ghumman. They also demanded that an inquiry be conducted into the death of the bodybuilder. “If the family has any doubt about negligence during his death, it must be probed. Ghumman was not just a champion for his family or the city, but he was the pride of Punjab and the country,” they said.

Ghuman was based at Ghai Nagar, near Model Town, in Jalandhar, where he also owned a gym. He was a vegetarian, heavy weight champion, who used to contest in the 120 kg-plus category. The six feet three inch tall athlete had won the title of Mr India in 2009 and got the second place in Mr Asia contest.

In 2012, he had even hit the silver screen with his debut Punjabi movie “Kabaddi Once Again”. His father Bhupinder Singh was an assistant sub-inspector in the Punjab Police. He has so far been the only Asian to make it to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s top international body building contest — Arnold Classic. He had also tried his luck in Hindi cinema with his movie “Roar: Tigers of the Sunderbans”, but it did not click much for him.

He was a staunch vegetarian, who boasted of 23 inch biceps. He originally hailed from Gurdaspur, but had settled in Jalandhar as he was taking training from his guru Randhir Hastir. He did his MA (English) from Lyallpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar.