Deaths due to drugs in Punjab's Jalalabad spark row, 3 SHOs shifted

Under fire from the opposition parties over recent deaths of youths in Jalalabad sub-division, reportedly due to drug overdose and traffickers, the Fazilka district police has ordered transfers of Station House Officers Sachin Kumar (Jalalabad City), Amarjit Kaur (Jalalabad Sadar) and Angrej Kumar (Arniwala). Official sources, however, said the transfers were done “on administrative grounds”.  

Former Congress minister Hans Raj Josan, SAD Jalalabad leader Raju Khera, BJP Fazilka district president Sukhwinder Singh Kamboj flagged that five persons had recently died due to drugs. People had alleged in viral videos that drugs were freely available in Jalalabad.

On June 28, Akashdeep, alias Bobby (25), was found dead in a private godown in Tiwana Kalan village. A case was registered against Jarnail Singh Jaily, Harjinder Singh Sonu, Shinderpal Singh and Swaran Singh under Section 105 of the BNS. The police said that when Jarnail Singh was being taken for investigation, he tried to flee from the police custody and when he did not stop despite warning, he was shot in the leg and arrested.

On June 30, Bhagwanpura Basti resident Lov informed the police that his brother Harsh, who had been using “chitta” (heroin) for the past three years, had died allegedly due to torture by Gurmukh Singh Gukhi, Toti, Dillu, Rohit and Raman and half a dozen unidentified persons. A case was registered under sections 103, 191(3) and 190 of the BNS at Jalalabad City police station.

On July 1, a biker was found dead on the banks of Chandbhan drain in Paliwala village. A syringe was also found there. It indicated that he died due to drug abuse.

On July 2, Manjit Kaur of Mahuana Bodla village registered a FIR at Arniwala police station under Section 103, 3(5) of the BNS. She said that her son Mandeep Singh (25) went for some work to Chandigarh. On July 1, he conveyed that he had reached Bathinda. As Mandeep did not reach home, she started searching and found him lying dead near a water course (khala). She learnt that Lada Singh of Mahuana Bodla and Jarnail Singh of Aliana village allegedly gave Manjit a drug and beat him to death.