Budding Punjabi Singer dies of drug overdose; family alleges police inaction

Parvesh Sharma

Tribune News Service

Barnala, June 29

A budding Punjabi singer allegedly died of a drug overdose at his house in Mehal Kalan town of Barnala district on Sunday night.

The father of deceased alleged that the police had failed to act despite the complaints against the smugglers. The police, on the other hand, denied having received any information from the family of the deceased about the sale of ‘chitta’ in their area.

“Deceased Gagandeep Singh (26) was a drug addict. He tried many times to quit ‘chitta’ but the easy availability of the drug and the pressure by the smugglers created serious problems for him. He sang five songs in his career and one of them was about the ill-effects of ‘chitta’. He was found dead in his room on Sunday night with the syringe in his arm. He died of a drug overdose,” said Sukhdev Singh, father of the deceased.

“We had informed the police about the smugglers many times but they did not take quick action. The easy availability could be gauged from the fact that Gagan used to come back with ‘chitta’ in only five minutes. He wasted lakhs on the drug as his daily dose varied between Rs 5,000 and Rs 15,000 daily. His wife left him due to his addiction. Drugs are more dangerous than coronavirus but, unfortunately, the Punjab government is not serious to end ‘chitta’,” alleged Sukhdev.

“The family informed us about Gagan’s addiction only after his death. The family members are making baseless allegations as they never lodged any complaint with us about the sale of ‘chitta’,” said ASI Mahinderpal Singh.