CHANDIGARH: With cases of killing of anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota in Mansa and Dalit daily wager Gulzaar Singh committing suicide in Sangrur still fresh, two brothers allegedly battling drug addiction were found dead in their room in Patti town of Taran Taran on Sunday. It is the latest in a series of suspected drug-related deaths in Punjab.
The deceased have been identified as Gurdeep Singh (36) and Sona Singh (28), sons of Jagir Singh and residents of Patti. The family, which belongs to an economically weaker section, does not own a house and has been living in a room built on the premises of the block office of Taran Wala Government Elementary School in Patti for the last four years.
Both brothers worked hard to support their household. While Sona Singh was unmarried, Gurdeep Singh was married and had three children, his wife had reportedly been living separately for the past few years, and his 12-year-old child lives with the grandmother.
The mother of the deceased, Surinder Kaur, and sister, Satwinder Kaur, said both brothers consumed heroin (locally known as chitta) and narcotic pills and added that both brothers had gone to sleep in their room on Saturday night but were found dead when the family checked on them early Sunday morning.
They appealed to the district administration and social service organisations to provide financial assistance to the family and support the education and upbringing of the children. The family alleged that the brothers' deaths were linked to drug abuse.