MEERUT: Two days after an NIA interrogation session over alleged Khalistan outfit links, a night guard from Hastinapur killed himself.
Paramjit Singh, 35, worked at a dairy farm in Hastinapur. The arrest of an alleged gunrunner from Punjab, Gagandeep Singh, on July 6 set off a trail that led to Paramjit. Gagandeep had been booked in Punjab for allegedly supplying weapons to a man called Aarsh, believed to be close to the chief of the banned Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar. The weapons were said to have been used for extortion.
The Union ministry of home affairs had in January identified KTF among outfits the NIA must investigate for “conspiracy to create an atmosphere of fear and lawlessness and cause disaffection in people and to incite them towards rising in rebellion towards the government of India”.
Gagandeep pointed the NIA to Paramjit and another man, Asif Ali, who was arrested on July 10 with two 0.315 country-made firearms and 10 live rounds. A day later, Paramjit was called in for questioning. “During a search (at Paramjit’s house in Hastinapur’s Dudhali Khadar), cash amounting to Rs 9 lakh, mobile phones and incriminating documents were recovered,” a July 11 NIA statement said.
“Paramjit was taken away by the NIA on July 11 and let off the following day. He was summoned again on July 14. Then, on Monday (July 19), he was asked to reach NIA’s Chandigarh office to record a statement. We got there and he was with them (NIA officials) for five hours,” Paramjit’s father Ajit Singh said. Later that evening, they left Chandigarh. “(When we were leaving,) NIA officers told me they had ‘explained everything’ to Paramjit. All through the journey home I did everything I could to make him talk about what happened. He wouldn’t speak.”
On Tuesday night, he left for the dairy farm where he worked. Hours later, he was found lying unconscious, possibly by passersby. “He was alive when he was brought to the hospital. The doctors said he had consumed pesticide,” Hastinapur police station sub inspector AK Singh said. An hour later, his father Ajit received a call. Ajit said, “It was from the hospital, telling me my son had died.” His body has been sent for an autopsy.
