11 youths on death row in Dubai for killing Pakistani

Tribune News Service

Patiala, December 7

A Dubai court has sentenced 11 Punjab youths to death sentence for killing a Pakistani in July 2015. They are lodged in Al-Aweer Detention Centre for Men in Dubai.

The convicts are: Satminder Singh of Barnala; Chander Shekhar of Hoshiarpur; Chamkaur Singh of Malerkotla; Kulwinder Singh, Balwinder Kumar and Dharamvir Singh of Ludhiana; Kulwinder Singh of Tarn Taran; Harjinder Singh of Mohali; Tarsem Singh of Amritsar; Gurpreet Singh of Patiala; and Jagjit Singh of Gurdaspur.

They were arrested on the charge of murdering a Pakistani national in Dubai on the night of July 5, 2015, following a dispute over liquor trade. The court convicted them on November 23 this year.

Dubai-based Punjabi hotelier SPS Oberoi, who had paid “blood money” to secure the release of 17 Indians in 2013, has come forward to help the convicts. He said he was in touch with the families. “I have hired a lawyer in Dubai to fight their case in the Federal Court. I am ready to pay the ‘blood money’,” Oberoi said.

Lovepreet Singh, son of Kulwinder from Ludhiana, told The Tribune his father had gone to Dubai about four years ago and had been working as a mason with a construction firm there. “On the night of July 5 last year, four persons who lived with my father took him along when three Pakistanis picked up a quarrel with some Punjabis. The Pakistanis were attacked. In the melee, one of them was killed, while two others were injured. My father was not involved in liquor trade,” he added.

Hoshiarpur youth’s family urges PM for help

Hoshiarpur: The family of Chander Shekhar, who along with 10 other Punjabi youths are on death row in Dubai, has pleaded for help from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It wants the Centre to take up the matter with the UAE government.

His father Manjit Singh said his son had gone to Dubai in December 2014 after taking a loan of Rs80,000.