‘A body is now needed to run our family’
Punjab Police constable Mohan Singh, 38, is feared to have died trying to save a girl from drowning on November 22. His impoverished family is dealing with the pain, but an almost daily search for his body is adding to the trauma.
Punjab Police constable Mohan Singh, 38, is feared to have died trying to save a girl from drowning on November 22. His impoverished family is dealing with the pain, but an almost daily search for his body is adding to the trauma.
Mohan Singh’s family needs the benefits that accrued to him, but has to have his death certificate. This has forced the family to take a loan to find its sole breadwinner’s body.
Mohan Singh had jumped into the Bhakra main line canal to rescue a teenager trying to commit suicide. He saved her, but was swept away. His body has not been recovered yet from the 138-km-long canal.
Now, his family travels almost every day from their home at Malipur village in Ludhiana district to Khanuri on the Punjab-Hayana border, where the Bhakra main line enters the neighbouring state. Bodies of accident or suicide victims are often fished out here.
“It’s traumatic. We have no money...but are taking loans to search for a corpse,” said Mohan Singh’s wife, Parwinder Kaur.
His father, Ram Singh, said, “Whenever they find a body, they inform us. We go to identify it because a body is now needed to run our family.”
The family on Monday met IGP (Patiala zone) SL Ghakar, who assured them of help.