Led by sarpanch, Ludhiana village takes up cudgels against drug peddlers

Mahesh Sharma

Mandiani (Ludhiana), July 20

This non-descript Mandiani village of Ludhiana district today turned into a cantonment after a video showing a daring act of villagers led by its woman sarpanch, Gurpreet Kaur, against some families of drug peddlers went viral in the region.

‘Either stop playing with the lives of our youth or leave the village’ was the ultimatum of the residents to at least five families, which are suspected of distributing drugs and narcotics in the region for over two decades.

The village sarpanch has dared to be the whistleblower by leading office-bearers and activists of various organisations during a ‘community’ search of the targeted families. Paraphernalia used for preparing drug packets and the administration of “chitta”, valuables kept as guarantee and cash worth lakhs were recovered by the crusaders during the search operation.

Though the villagers have been protesting against inaction in the matter in the past, a video showing the recoveries made during the search operation went viral today and attracted the attention of the public as well as the police.

Born and brought up at Manki village in Malerkotla district, Gurpreet said, “Having imbibed the traits of integrity and boldness from my parents, I chose to adopt a do-or-die attitude towards drug peddlers, who have ruined the lives of many youths of my village. Everyone in the village supported my endeavour and searched the houses of the peddlers and found illegal material.”

Recoveries suggest that addicts had been keeping valuables with suppliers for buying drugs. A digital weighing machine, envelopes and syringes were also seized.

Three main suspects booked

• On receiving info, over 100 cops, including 14 gazetted officers, led by IG SPS Parmar and Ludhiana (Rural) SSP Deepak Hilori conducted a massive operation at Munki village
• Three main suspects — Mukhtiar Kaur, alias Guddi, Kashmir Singh, alias Golu, and Jaswinder Kaur, alias Bunty — have been booked under the NDPS Act