New Delhi: A 22-year-old farmer, who returned from the protest near the Delhi border, on Sunday allegedly died by suicide after consuming some poisonous substance in his village in Punjab’s Bathinda district, police said. The deceased farmer, identified as Gurlabh Singh, was a resident of Dayalpura Mirza village and had returned to his village late Saturday from the protest site.
He was taken to the nearby hospital where he was declared dead. The reason behind the suicide was yet to be ascertained, the police said.
Thousands of farmers, largely from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, have been staging protests on the national capital’s borders, demanding three laws passed by the Narendra Modi government be revoked, fearing these will affect their livelihoods.
Earlier, a 65-year-old Sikh preacher died by suicide by shooting himself dead at Singhu border. Sant Baba Ram Singh hailed from Singhra village in Nissing area of Karnal district. A handwritten note in Punjabi, purportedly left behind by the deceased, said he was unable to bear the “pain of farmers”.
According to his suicide letter, found near his body, he shot himself in solidarity with the protesters. According to the reports, Sant Baba Ram Singh, was a religious preacher with followers in Haryana and Punjab. He was a former office-bearer in many Sikh organisations, including Haryana SGPC.
(With agency inputs)