‘Dilli Chalo’ agitation | Khanauri: Protester found hanging in tent; farmers say ‘first suicide since Feb 13’

A member of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Sidhupur), Gurmeet Singh, a resident of Thuthianwala village in Mansa, a landless farm labourer, had come to Khanauri on February 13 when the protest morcha was started and never returned his home since then, farmers at the camp said.

According to farmers, no one was in the tent in the morning around 8, everyone was busy doing daily chores. When some farmers returned to the tent around 8.30 am, they found Gurmeet hanging, they said.

“Gurmeet was taken to a nearby government hospital in Patran, Patiala, but was pronounced dead upon arrival,” BKU (Sidhupur) senior leader Kaka Singh Kotda said.

Kotda said, “The postmortem will be done when government assures us about compensation and a job for a family member. We are talking to the administration.”

Tejveer Singh, spokesperson of the Shaheed Bhagat Singh (Haryana), part of the morcha, said, “This is the first suicide and 27th death since February 13.”

“Gurmeet used to look after the electric supply at the morcha. A few days ago, he asked me if the government would listen to farmers’ demands… This is high time for the government to wake up,” said BKU (Sidhupur) president Jagjit Singh Dallewal, also coordinator of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political).

Gurmeet is survived by his wife Paramjeet Kaur, daughter Dasmanpreet Kaur (27) and two sons — Satkartar Singh (25) and Prabhjot Singh (19).