Punjab’s war on drugs: Two die of ‘overdose’ in Mansa village, police say no drugs available in area

“I will not comment till viscera testing report is not out. There is no proof that they died of drug overdose as of now,” he told The Indian Express.

Both Parminder and Ekam had recently shifted to the outskirts of Delhi to work in a brick kiln. A week back, the two friends had come back to their village to meet their families.

On Sunday, two village elders, Bhola Singh and Meeha Singh, were the first to witness the boys struggle before their painful death.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Bhola Singh, Ekam’s paternal uncle said, “I was in fields. Ekam came running. He was trembling. His eyes were rolled up and he was breathing heavily He just said bacha le (save me). I asked ‘What have you taken?’ He said, ‘goliyaan (tablets)’. We immediately rushed him to the local hospital and few minutes later he confessed more. He said that he also took smack. Doctors declared him dead on arrival, he had died on the way.”

Ekam also revealed to his uncle that Parminder was lying unconscious at the ‘adda’. His father, Gamdoor Singh, rushed to save him, but the 18-year-old didn’t make it alive to the hospital, said Bhola.

“Ekam had Rs 2,500 he had earned in Delhi. We came to know that he even sold off his mobile phone to get drugs. He told us that he took smack, but we got to know it was probably chitta (heroin), which is a costlier drug….Our sons did not even know the difference between smack and chitta and even the exact names of the drugs. They were lured and trapped,” said Gamdoor.

Meeha Singh, the local cobbler, added: “Ekam confessed in front of me that they took drugs. How can police even resort to such a lie?”

Countering police claims, Bhola said: “Let the SSP prove that these were not drug deaths. Let him prove so by giving us the authentic post mortem report and then we will see. Two homes have lost their children because of drugs, parents are accepting that their children died of drug overdose and the SSP says there are no drugs. Had the police tried even once to arrest those outsiders who come in a white Maruti car daily to supply drugs to village boys, this would not have happened.”

Megha Singh, Municipal Council president, from the CPI said, “Both boys died of drug overdose. I know, the entire village knows, but of course local MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal and police will never accept it. That is why no one from SAD has dared to enter village since Sunday.”