“We thought it was nothing serious and that police needed him for some questioning,” Kashmir says. Ranjeet’s family claims they themselves took him to the Nawanshahr police station on June 6, 2016, following a police visit looking for him. Tek’s mother-in-law sends over some money from her pension for Surjit to use in jail. During the day he would help me in the field and conduct paath (religious discourse) at people’s places,” says Tek, who holds ‘Akhand Paaths’ at the village gurdwara. After doing Class 12 he had started working as a night guard at a private bank. “Surjit was our only support as his two sisters are married. Tek, who owns a one-acre plot and lives in a semi-pucca house with wife Manjeet Kaur in Bahadur Hussain Kalan village in Gurdaspur district, says he sold a buffalo and a cow to pay the lawyer’s fees of Rs 60,000. “But after two days police contacted us and told that Surjit had been arrested.” Tek Singh, the 57-year-old ailing father of Surjit, says police told him initially that he would be back in two days. The NGO claims to have helped around 100 Sikh prisoners implicated in ‘false cases’, including of supporting Khalistan. As they couldn’t hire a lawyer, a UK-based NGO, Sikh Relief, provided legal aid. With little money to spare, Sarabjit is able to go just two-three times a year to Nabha Jail, 100 km away, where Arvinder is lodged. He was the one who constructed this house as we had no money even for basic needs.” He left home at the age of 18 to work, and became a JCB machine operator. Sarabjit, 50, now lives alone in a four-room house.Ĭrying inconsolably, Sarabjit says, “Arvinder was everything to me. Sarabjit claims her husband Gurnam Singh took to the bottle after Arvinder’s arrest, and died on November 23, 2017, just five days after Arvinder’s grandfather’s death. After his arrest, his wife of four months left and got a divorce. With the family-owned land less than one acre in size, Arvinder’s mother Sarabjit rears two cattle to eke out a living in their native Pallian Kurad village in Nawanshahr. Nawanshahr Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) Mukhtiyar Rai, the Investigating Officer (IO), said the three would be tried “after they are extradited”, while adding that police are yet to take up the matter with Interpol.Ī world away are the homes of Arvinder, Surjit and Ranjeet. There are three others wanted in the case - BKI head Wadhawa Singh Babbar and Karnavir Singh, both believed to be in Pakistan, Wadhwa’s son Jujhar Singh who lives in Germany, and UK-based Akalrup Singh. Both the sentences are to run concurrently. The Nawanshahr court sentenced Arvinder, Surjit and Ranjeet to life term under Section 121 of the IPC with a fine of Rs 1 lakh and under Section 121 (A) of the IPC with rigorous imprisonment of 10 years and fine of Rs 25,000.
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