‘Fed up’ of repeated questioning by NIA, cobbler commits suicide
At 6am, my father went out on his bicycle without informing anyone. Two hours later, he made a call to my sister Yashoda and asked her to give the phone to my mother. My father told her to take care of children as he will not return. MANISH KUMAR, victim’s son
LUDHIANA: Fed up of being repeatedly questioned by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the killing of Punjab’s Shiv Sena leader Durga Prasad Gupta, a cobbler committed suicide by jumping into Sirhind Canal in Fatehgarh Sahib district on Tuesday morning.
The NIA, probing target killings in Punjab, allegedly wanted Rampal, 55, to depose as a witness in the case, but he was reluctant.
His body was fished out about 2km downstream, police said. The victim was a resident of Beelan Wali Chhapri of Khanna. He ran a makeshift shop at Lalheri Chowk where Gupta was gunned down by motorcycleborne unidentified assailants on April 23, 2016.
His son Manish Kumar said police told his father that NIA officials will be in the city on Tuesday and they will take him to Delhi to record his statement as a witness, following which he was under depression.
Manish alleged that my father used to sit at his makeshift shop at Lalheri Chowk, but he was not there when the Shiv Sena leader was gunned down. “They (NIA) officials were harassing my father by repeatedly calling him for questioning to police stations,” alleged Manish.
“At 6am on Tuesday, my father went out of the house on his bicycle without informing anyone. Two hours later, he made a call to my sister Yashoda and asked her to give the phone to my mother Kamlesh Rani. My father told her to take care of children as he will not return. We had no idea that he will take the extreme step,” said Manish.
He added ,“A man from whom my father borrowed the phone to make a call asked us to reach Sirhind Canal near the floating restaurant,”.
The family informed the police following which a search operation was launched. Police fished out his body near Sonda village at 11am.
No suicide note has been found, said the SHO. The police have inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Khanna city SHO Rajnish Sood said Rampal was a witness and not an accused.
“There was no pressure on him. Police and NIA teams were just questioning him to know if he had seen anything,” he said. Deputy superintendent of police (NIA) Ranbir Singh Tyagi said there could be some other reason behind Rampal’s suicide.
Rampal is survived by his wife, two sons — Manish and Krishan — and three daughters. Two of his daughters are married. His son Manish runs a barber shop.
On November 30 last year, the Punjab government handed over seven cases, including killing of right-wing and religious leaders to the NIA keeping in mind the possible “national and international ramifications” of a conspiracy behind target killings in the state.