Bride dies of heart attack hours before wedding

Celebrations turned into mourning at Bargari village, near Faridkot, when bride-to-be Pooja died of a heart attack hours before her wedding on Saturday. The festive beats of the Jago ceremony were silenced overnight, and by the morning, the family that had been preparing for her wedding was instead preparing for her last rites.

According to family members, Friday night was filled with laughter, music, and dancing as relatives had gathered at the house of Harjinder Singh, a daily wage labourer, to celebrate his daughter’s marriage scheduled for Saturday.

After the “shagun” and “mehndi” ceremonies, the family and guests continued with celebrations late into the night. Around 1.15 am, while dancing with friends, Pooja suddenly collapsed. Within moments, she began vomiting blood and bleeding from the nose. She was rushed to a nearby clinic, but was declared dead.

The joy-filled house plunged into sorrow within minutes. Instead of the doli (bridal palanquin), a hearse left the house on Saturday morning.

Pooja’s marriage had been arranged with a resident of Raunwala village, who worked in Dubai. The couple’s engagement had taken place over a video call, and the wedding was fixed after the groom’s recent return to India.

Family members said Pooja had never met her fiancé in person, but was eagerly looking forward to starting a new chapter of life. Her father Harjinder Singh had borrowed heavily from relatives and villagers to arrange nearly Rs 5 lakh for the wedding. “She was very excited and personally looked after all arrangements… Now, we are left with nothing, but tears,” he said.