Kamal Ghorui
LUDHIANA: They sent off the youngster, cheerful and smiling, to a foreign land in the hope of a better life. They got him back in a casket, wearing an alien uniform, and no answers to how he died and why. Ludhiana’s Samarjeet Singh, who had travelled to Russia in 2025 for higher education and better work, has been killed in the Ukraine war while fighting for Russia. A few months after Samarjeet moved to Russia, his family lost all contact. Communication with him was lost in Sept, prompting his relatives to spend months pleading with Indian govt agencies and the external affairs ministry for assistance. The family’s worst fears were confirmed Wednesday when Russian officials notified them that Samarjeet had died and that his remains had been sent to Delhi. “We tried everything but nobody supported us when we needed it most,” said his father, Charanjeet Singh. “Now all we have is his uniform, a death certificate, and documents in Russian that we cannot even read.”
