Upset with NIA, Punjab cobbler commits suicide

Chandigarh, Jan 23 : Upset over being questioned repeatedly by the NIA in the murder case of a Hindu leader in Punjab, a cobbler committed suicide on Tuesday by jumping into an irrigation canal near Khanna town, around 70 km from here, police said.

Rampal, aged around 55 years, called up his family members before jumping into the Sirhind Canal. The family informed the police and his body was taken out downstream.

The victim was repeatedly questioned by National Investigation Agency investigators probing the killing of Durga Prasad Gupta, President of the Punjab Shiv Sena’s labour wing. Gupta was killed in front of the place where Rampal ran his makeshift shop.

Gupta, 28, was gunned down by unidentified miscreants near Lalehi Chowk in Khanna on April 26, 2016.

Police sources said the NIA was pressurizing the cobbler to depose as an eyewitness in the murder case but he did not want to do that.

IANS