Foul play, say kin of Punjab youth on death row in UAE

BATALA - Relatives here of one of the 17 Indians sentenced to death in Sharjah for killing a Pakistani man Wednesday said they suspected “foul play” in the case and urged the government to secure his release.

In the meantime, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to immediately send the external affairs minister to the UAE to save the lives of the 17 Indians facing the gallows.

“Seventeen Indians, including 16 Punjabis, have to face this situation due to absence of any legal support from the local Indian embassy in the UAE. The prime minister himself should appeal to the highest constitutional authority in the UAE to pardon them as they have been framed in this murder case due to professional rivalry,” said Badal.

Chanan Singh, grandfather of Ravinder Singh (25), one of the Indians sentenced to death in Sharjah, told IANS: “My grandson had gone there to earn a better living, not to create any kind of trouble. It is sheer injustice and we appeal to the Indian government to ensure the release of all the youths who have been arrested in Dubai.”

“Ravinder had gone there around two-and-half years back. Before going there, he was working in our fields and he had studied till Class 10. He was working in a private company and was driving a truck there,” said Singh.

Singh said that Ravinder was first arrested Jan 11, 2009, by the Dubai police but was later released. Then he was again arrested Jan 17.

Seventeen Indians were sentenced to death by a court in Sharjah for killing a Pakistani man and injuring three others in January 2009 following a fight over illegal liquor business, a media report said Monday.

The murder had taken place in Al Sajaa area of Sharjah in the UAE. The victim died of stab wounds and also suffered brain damage, police said.

The convicted men are between 17 and 30 years of age.

“Ravinder was scheduled to come to Punjab in January 2009 to spend his holidays here. But he did not come and did not even inform us about the cancellation of his programme. He was arrested from the airport on Jan 17, 2009,” Gurmeet Kaur, Ravinder’s mother, told IANS between sobs.

She added, “We got a call from Rajinder Singh (Ravinder’s brother), who is also working in Dubai, and he told us that Ravinder had missed his flight. He did not tell us about the arrest as he did not want us to worry about their welfare. Our family has been ruined with this news and we are quite sure that some anti-social elements have falsely implicated my son in this matter.”

While making a desperate appeal to save her son, Kaur said the family was quite helpless and had very meagre resources to save Ravinder. “Therefore, we want immediate support of the media and our government,” she pointed out.

Scores of concerned relatives and family friends have been thronging Ravinder’s house here in village Gokhuwal in this border district, around 250 km from state capital Chandigarh.

“There are so many loopholes in this entire matter as Dubai police are claiming that Ravinder was arrested from his workplace. It is totally false and anybody can check it from his office records,” Jasbir Singh, relative of Ravinder, told IANS.

“Ravinder was arrested from the airport but I do not know that why are they hiding this fact. They said that he indulged in some liquor related matter but how can this be possible as Ravinder hates liquor and does not touch it,” stated Jasbir.

Names of the arrested 16 Punjabi youths: Kulwinder Singh, Dharampal, Sukhjinder Singh, Ravinder Singh, Satguru Singh, Daljit Singh, Kuldeep Singh, Sarabjot Singh, Kashmir Singh, Tanjit Singh, Baljeet Singh, Navjot Singh, Sukhwinder Singh, Ram Singh, Satnam Singh and Sukhan Singh.