June 3 (Punjab Khabarnama) : Jalandhar North constituency is getting infamous for robbery, theft and drug trade. After two days, another youth died due to drug overdose in the area. The body of the youth was found in an empty plot situated at the back side of a cinema hall situated some distance from Pathankot Chowk. Police identified the deceased youth and informed the Sarpanch of the deceased’s village by phone and assured him that they will hand over the body without post mortem but after breaking the trust, the family members of the deceased and the people of his village staged a sit-in outside the police station against the SHO of Police Station 8. The SHO called a minister and advised him to end the sit-in and later the body was handed over to the heirs without post mortem.
According to the information, on Sunday afternoon, passersby saw the body in an empty plot and informed the police. ASI Kishore Kumar of Police Station 8 reached the spot immediately. The condition in which the body was found clearly indicated that the youth had died due to drug overdose. A water bottle was lying nearby. When the police searched the clothes of the youth, he was identified from the identity card found in his pocket. The deceased youth was a resident of Nangal Salempur, whose name is Kamaljeet (27) alias Ajay son of Sant Ram. When the police informed the village head Vijay Nangal about this, it was found that Ajay was missing for the last 15 days.
Sarpanch Vijay Nangal also said that he did not want any action to be taken. The police agreed and sent the body to the civil hospital for identification. Earlier, the police had kept the body in the mortuary of the hospital. After identification, Sarpanch Vijay Nangal reached Police Station 8 with the relatives of the deceased, while the relatives were also informed for the last rites. As soon as he reached the police station, after some altercation, SHO Gurmeet Singh refused to hand over the body without conducting a post-mortem. In such a situation, people got angry.
He said that his relatives have started arriving for the last rites and if the post-mortem is done, the matter will reach by tomorrow. The victim’s family had also made preparations for the last rites. When the police did not listen, people staged a sit-in outside the police station and started shouting slogans against the SHO. If sources are to be believed, the SHO called a minister and told him everything, after which the minister called Sarpanch Vijay Nangal and asked him to end the sit-in and it was also decided that the police will hand over the body to the family without post-mortem.
Let us tell you that the body of a 21-year-old youth was found in a room of a crematorium located in the Industrial Estate on May 31 and in that case too, there was a hushed talk about the death being due to overdose. When we tried to talk to the in-charge of Police Station 8, Gurmeet Singh, he did not pick up the phone.