Armyman dies of ‘drug overdose’, friend booked

KAPURTHALA: A 26-year-old army man, identified as Harmanpreet Singh, allegedly died of drug overdose in Sultanpur Lodhi town of the district on December 2, the police said here on Saturday.

The police have booked the victim’s friend Onkar Singh on culpable homicide not amounting to murder charges on the complaint of the victim’s father. Onkar Singh is working in the Railway Coach Factory (RCF) here. He is a resident of Husian village of the district.

Harmanpreet Singh of Sultanpur Lodhi joined the army in 2016 at the Sikh Regiment Centre, Ramgarh, Jharkhand.

Station house officer (SHO) of Sultanpur Lodhi Sarabjit Singh said that, on basis of the family’s statement, a case under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered against his friend Onkar.

The station house officer said that the deceased’s father Shingara Singh, in his complaint, told the police that his son came on a 15-day leave from the army on December 2 for his marriage, which scheduled to be held on December 5.

“On December 2, my son left home to meet his friend Onkar Singh at 4.40 pm and a few hours later Onkar Singh’s father Kulwant Singh called me up to inform that my son is lying unconscious,” Shingara Singh told the police in his statement.

Shingara Singh alleged that Onkar Singh was a drug addict and he suspected that the accused gave his son some drug or administered a drug injection that led to his death.

The station house officer said that Harmanpreet died during treatment on December 6.

His father claimed that according to the doctor’s report, he died of morphine overdose. His marriage could not be solemnised on December 5 as he was in the hospital, the SHO said.

“We are investigating the case and the accused will be arrested soon if found guilty. We will be able to clear the exact cause of death of Harmanpreet Singh after the postmortem report is received,” the SHO said.

Zonal licensing authority (ZLA) Karun Sachdev said that morphine drug is banned for open sale and it is only used in government hospitals and some private hospitals for surgeries only. “If this drug was accessible to a local resident then it is possible that it might have been smuggled from some other country,” he said.

On December 2, my son left home to meet his friend Onkar and a few hours later his father called me to inform that my son is lying unconscious. SHINGARA SINGH, victim’s father