Hours after 49-year-old Jaspal Singh was cremated after he died due to Covid-19, his daughter Navpreet Kaur (24) also passed away at her home.

He would call her ‘Mota Putt‘ and whenever she demanded manchurian, he would travel to Ludhiana city to get it from a particular shop. For 18 years that she suffered from juvenile diabetes, which eventually also damaged her kidneys and took away her eyesight, Assistant Sub-inspector (ASI) Jaspal Singh, from rural subdivision Payal, ran from one hospital to the other, to get her treated.

On Monday, hours after 49-year-old Jaspal Singh was cremated at Payal with full honors after he died due to Covid-19 at PGIMER Chandigarh, his daughter Navpreet Kaur (24) also passed away at her home. As per the family members, she kept calling for ‘Daddy ji’ every few minutes, collapsed, fell unconscious and died of shock late on Monday.

“Their bond was something else. Our father could not see her in pain even for a minute. Since she was diagnosed with diabetes when she was 8, he spent next 18 years of his life, running from one hospital to the other to get her treated. He would spend all his earnings to get my sister treated and would even take loans sometimes but her condition only deteriorated with time. On Monday, as we returned after cremating my father, she got to know that something was amiss as everyone was crying. She started asking where Daddy was and we had no answer. She died soon after,” says Sharandeep Singh (22), who cremated his ASI father on Monday and sister on Tuesday.

Jaspal Singh, posted at Police Lines in Ludhiana, was under treatment for tuberculosis since March at SPS Hospital. He was also diabetic, which had also eventually affected his kidneys. He was on medical leave and had joined duty on July 24. He tested positive for the novel coronavirus on July 27 and was in home isolation since then, as per records of Ludhiana Police.

“He did not tell us that he had tested positive for coronavirus. We were suspicious but then we thought maybe due to tuberculosis he was maintaining distance from family as a precaution. He had high fever on August 5 and we took him to a local hospital. From there he was referred to PGIMER on August 6. It was only then that we got to know he was Covid positive,” said Sharandeep. Jaspal died at PGIMER on Sunday evening.

Kiranpal Kaur (45), Jaspal’s wife said that her daughter had been on insulin since after being diagnosed with diabetes at the age of eight. “Yesterday, when we returned from my husband’s cremation, she heard cries of everyone. She started questioning ‘Daddy ji kithe ne, Daddy nu bulao‘ (Where’s Daddy, call him). We had no option but to tell her that her Daddy is not going to return. Soon she fell unconscious and couldn’t gather herself again. For 18 years he just toiled to get the best treatment for her. We did not leave a single hospital in Punjab and he would keep searching for new treatments. He was in more pain since two years after our daughter lost her vision completely. Her pain would leave him in tears. And they could not live without each other even for a day and their end too came together,” said Kiranpal.

“We last spoke to him over a video call when he was at the isolation ward at PGIMER. But he hadn’t spoken to Navpreet then. It was only the day he left home for the hospital that they had spoken last,” said Sharandeep.

Ludhiana police commissioner Rakesh Agrawal said that the family will be given ex-gratia as per rules. Jaspal served Punjab Police for over 25 years after joining as a constable in 1992.