Sikh activist commits suicide

Sikh activist Gurbaksh Singh Khalsa has allegedly committed suicide by jumping from a water reservoir at his native Thaska Ali village here yesterday, police said.

Gurbaksh had been demanding the release of Sikh prisoners who had completed their jail terms.

52-year-old Khalsa, who earlier also had gone on an indefinite fast twice on this issue, last evening jumped from an overhead tank where he was holding a fast unto death, police said.

He was rushed to the district civil hospital Kurukshetra where he succumbed to his injuries last night, they said.

Earlier in the day he was also given 'Siropa' by the family members and friends for the "success of his mission."

A large number of Sikh activists led by Kanwaljit Singh Ajrana, state president of 'Haryana Sikh Parivar' had blocked the Kurukshetra-Pehowa road in front of the hospital till midnight demanding action against the cops.

 

The activists lifted the blockade after city Magistrate reached the spot and assured of taking appropriate action in the matter.

Ajrana alleged that the neither police nor district administration had taken any steps like laying net beneath the tank and providing any medical van before attempting to bring down Khalsa from water tank.

However, Superintendent of Police, Kurukshetra, Abhishek Garg said that police had taken all necessary steps and even laid the net in the presence of duty magistrate last evening.

The duty magistrate and police had gone there to convince him to get down for talks. However, he jumped on the other side of the tank, police said.

Khalsa had been seeking the release of prisoners, including those convicted for assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh in 1995. He had also gone on a 44-day long hunger strike at a Gurdwara in Mohali in 2013.

Meanwhile, tension today gripped Thaska Ali village in Shahbad Block of Kurukshetra following his death.

A large contingent of police was deployed in and around the village before his body would be brought to his native place after post mortem today noon.