To those touched by his charity at PGI, Inderpreet was godfather
CHANDIGARH: Children could be heard crying the moment one entered the gurdwara located inside the Post-graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) on Wednesday. The children are finding it difficult to accept the death of their “godfather” Inderpreet Singh Chadha.
Inderpreet, son of former Chief Khalsa Diwan president Charanjit Singh Chadha, reportedly committed suicide by shooting himself in Amritsar on Wednesday, days after a video purportedly showing his father in a sexual act with a woman went viral.
Called “babaji” here, Inderpreet had been helping poor patients inside the PGIMER for the last half a decade. Vikram Singh, who has been serving in the gurdwara for the last two years, said, “Nearly 700 patients have been registered and they used to get free medicines, injections and other monetary help for their treatment.” Most of these patients are those suffering from kidney ailments, cancer and other serious diseases. There were some patients who would get Rs 5,000 to Rs 15,000 per month for treatment. “Apart from this, more than 40 widows get pension of Rs 1,000 per month. These included women whose husbands died within PGIMER and those staying in villages of Punjab.”
Inderpreet used to spend most of his day at the gurdwara. “Two days ago, he called me at 10.45pm and told me to ensure that every person residing inside the serai has proper blankets, as it was very cold outside,” said Suchit Taneja, adding, “He was godfather for all of us.”
Those at the gurdwara say Inderpreet, a businessman, first visited the gurdwara with his friend who was undergoing treatment for liver cancer. He could not stomach the fact that people were dying for want of medicine, so he decided to provide medicines to the needy from his family trust.
Gurpreet Kaur, 29, could not hold back her tears when she started talking about him. “My life is his gift to me. He was my saviour. How can he die?” she cried. “I met him a year ago, when the PGIMER refused to treat me as I had no money for dialysis. He helped me by giving money and has been funding my dialysis since then. He is like God to me.”
Sitting next to her was Pameshwar Prasad, 60, another kidney patient. When asked what sort of person Inderpreet was, he was in tears and said, “Woh hamari saans they (He was our life).”
“With his death, 120 children staying in the gurdwara have become orphans once again. They wish to die as well, as they cannot live without him,” said a woman named Sonia, who has been giving evening classes to these children. He got admitted over 70 children to schools and would arrange for their out-of-school tuition classes as well. A few are taking professional education from universities.
She said Chadha would never miss to celebrate the birthdays of children and would give them pocket money so that they don’t beg. On December 30, he gave the last pocket money to children.
“He used to tell me, ‘When I did wrong things in life, nobody stopped me; but now when I am helping poor patients, people are troubling me’,” recalled Vikram.