Man lodged at drug de-addiction centre thrashed to death, body dumped in canal; four held

Following a complaint, the Khanna police booked five people, including the owner of the centre, on Sunday. Four of the accused were arrested later when questioning of another addict revealed that the victim was beaten to death on April 21 and his body was dumped in Bhakra canal.

Other inmates of the centre said that they were told that the victim, identified as Amandeep Singh, 33, of Bhoa village in Amritsar, was sent home.

Fateh Singh, another inmate and an eyewitness in the case, told police in his statement that he and Amandeep were living at the centre with around 15 others. He added that Parneet Singh, who was running the centre, used to beat them up if any of them demanded any basic amenities and they were all threatened with dire consequences if they revealed anything to their families when they came to visit.

Fateh Singh, in his statement, mentioned that on April 21, Amandeep was on duty to wash clothes. “He was working very slowly which infuriated Parneet Singh and then he along with his four aides thrashed him brutally. Then again around 8 pm when we all were in the hall, Parneet and others thrashed Amandeep with sticks and rods. They took Amandeep away when he fell unconscious. The next day, we were told that he was sent home. However, on June 9, when Ravinder visited the centre, we got to know that he wasn’t sent home. In fact, we realised that he died because of the thrashing and his body was dumped into the canal,” hes said.

Khanna police booked Parneet Singh of Payal, and his four accomplices — Harmanpreet Singh, Vikram Singh and Gurvinder Singh – all three from Daheru village in Khanna and Pardeep Singh of Brahmpura village of Ludhiana, and arrested four of them on Sunday.

SSP Khanna Amneet Kondal said that Amandeep was sent to the centre around three months ago for treatment. “We found that the centre was running without a proper licence from the health department. Parneet’s four accomplices are also inmates of the centre and they were often used by Parneet to beat up other patients,” the SSP said, adding that an FIR was registered under Sections 302, 201, 148 and 149 of IPC with the Payal police station.