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BJP alleges drug-linked deaths; cops deny charge

The BJP on Monday staged a protest at Jalandhar’s Basti Peer Daad, alleging a string of deaths in the area due to drug overdose. Party workers, led by former Jalandhar Lok Sabha MP Sushil Rinku and former legislator Sheetal Angural,...
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BJP leaders Sushil Rinku and Sheetal Angural (centre) during a protest at Basti Peer Daad in Jalandhar on Monday.
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The BJP on Monday staged a protest at Jalandhar’s Basti Peer Daad, alleging a string of deaths in the area due to drug overdose.

Party workers, led by former Jalandhar Lok Sabha MP Sushil Rinku and former legislator Sheetal Angural, also claimed that a youth died there due to drug overdose on Sunday evening.

The police refuted the charge and said the 20-year-old youth had been “sick” for a week before his death.

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A senior official said the exact cause of death could be ascertained only after going through the doctors’ medical report.

However, the protesting BJP leaders demanded the registration of a case and asked the police to identify and arrest those who “supplied narcotics to the youth”.

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A cousin of the youth told The Tribune that he was admitted to the Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences on January 31.

“As per his medical report, my brother had tested positive for hepatitis C and HIV,” he said.

The cousin said On February 1, he was referred to a Amritsar hospital, which “refused to admit him”.

“Returning to Jalandhar, we again we took him to a private hospital, which too denied him admission. His condition was so bad that his internal organs failed,” he said.

The youth’s family alleged that he got addicted to drugs six months ago after he joined a local gym.

Sushil Rinku alleged that this wasn’t a stray incident.

“This is the seventh death from drug overdose in the Jalandhar West Assembly constituency. Deaths are taking place at Bhargo Camp, Basti Danishmandam, Basti Bawa Khel, and Basti Gujan too,” he said.

Angural said he had flagged seven to eight deaths in the city’s Basti areas in the past fortnight.

“A woman peddler had lured the youth into drug consumption when he started going to a gym about six months ago. He had started injecting water-mixed crushed tablets due to which his organs failed,” the former MLA said.

Responding to the allegations, area SHO Rajesh Thakur said, “The youth had been sick for about a week. His death wasn’t due to drug overdose. We are looking into the case and anyone found supplying drugs to the youth will not be spared.”

ADCP (Headquarters) Sukhwinder Singh said it is “unlikely” that narcotics led to his death in a short span of just six months.

“Something can only be said with certainty only after going through the doctors’ report,” he said.

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