Kamal Ghorui
SULTANPUR LODHI (KAPURTHALA): The critically ailing drug addict, whose parents had begged for help to save him, saying their other four sons had already died due to addiction, died at Govt Medical College Amritsar on Tuesday, within 24 hours of being admitted by police and govt officials in response to news reports on the family’s plight.Kapurthala civil surgeon Sanjeev Bhagat told TOI that the patient had multiple complications — he was found hepatitis-C and HIV-positive and had fluid around his left lung. “He was put on a ventilator after he reached the medical college on Monday. On Tuesday morning, he showed signs of improvement but then started sinking and died around 3pm,” he said, adding, “As the family’s resources already have been drained, I urged the medical college authorities and they arranged to send the body to his home.“His mother was told about the death in the late evening. She collapsed in grief, and reiterated her cry that she lost all five of her sons to drugs. On Monday, the ruling AAP and Kapurthala police had issued near-identical statements, contesting her claim, and saying that the four other sons died due to different reasons over an eight-year period — including one due to addiction and another in jail in a drugs case. “All my sons were addicted to ‘chitta’ (drugs),” she wailed.The pain of police contradicting her statement that all her sons were addicts erupted even in her wailing. “I shall praise CM Bhagwant Mann for helping my son’s treatment but I will call the police bad. Deputy Kapurthala wale ne khabar lai, aahnda jhoothian khabran laundi mata (Kapurthala police officer got some news published, saying I was giving fake news. They don’t understand a mother’s pain.”All her other sons had died in their 20s, she told TOI on Monday. The lone survivor was the only one who crossed 30, and now he is dead too. The elderly couple is left to take care of two grandsons and two granddaughters.The mother had told TOI that she knew her lone surviving son was an addict when she married him off. “We got him treated and he was fine for some time. I wanted my family’s name to continue,” she said.The bereaved mother and other women of Pandori Mohalla have been alleging that their locality is in the grip of drug menace, and it has claimed the lives of quite a few youths.On Monday, police had carried out a search operation in the locality, during which women expressed their anger and anguish over the easy supply of drugs in the area. Three drug addicts were handed over to police by their families for treatment. Another woman of the mohalla, Charanjit Kaur, said she lost her two sons to drug addiction — one seven years ago, and the other around three years back.
