Updated: December 18, 2020 8:29:11 am
Followers queue up to pay their respects to Baba Ram Singh at Singhra gurdwara. (Express photo by Sukhbir Siwach)
The SIKH preacher who died of a gunshot wound on Wednesday in Kundli near the Singhu border in Delhi, with associates saying he shot himself with his licensed revolver, had visited the farm’s protest sites twice before, even the day before his death, according to followers.
In an alleged suicide note, Baba Ram Singh, also known as Nanaksar Singhra Wale, had expressed his grief at the plight of farmers protesting against the Center’s agricultural laws.
“On December 9, he visited the site of the unrest on the Singhu border for the first time and donated Rs 5 lakh. He also asked his followers to join in the agitation, ”said Baba Amarjeet Singh, who is the most important official of the Nanaksar sect after Baba Ram Singh, at Singhra gurdwara in the Karnal of Haryana.
“The last time he went to the Singhu and Tikri borders was on December 15 and he returned at 2.30 in the morning. After half an hour, he told his associates that he wanted to go again, but they advised against him. At 10:30 am on December 16, they took him to the Singhu border… He gave no indication that he was going to commit this extreme act, ”he said.
Baba Ram Singh
The incident occurred when the preacher was alone in a car near the scene of the protest, his associates told police. Babaji had asked his men to come up on stage and he was with the conductor. Then he sent the driver to bring tea. When he returned after a few minutes, around 3 pm, Babaji was gone. He had no enmity with anyone, ”said Amarjeet Singh.
According to the police, so far there is no indication of any dirty act in the death. “According to the autopsy report, he died from a gunshot wound near his forehead. The weapon has not yet been recovered, ”Investigative Officer Sandeep Kumar told The Indian Express.
According to followers, Baba Ram Singh took over the gurdwara, known as ‘Ek Onkar Ashram Thath Nanaksar Singhra’, in 1990. Over the past three decades, the sect has become popular in the region and Singh has traveled to various countries, including the United States, Canada and Australia to give their lectures.
On Thursday, there were a number of political leaders who mourned his death: Punjab’s former Senior Deputy Minister Sukhbir Badal and his wife and former Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal; The head of the Haryana Congress, Kumari Selja; Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda. Cremation is scheduled for Friday.
Baba Ram Singh came from Konke Kalan in the Ludhiana district. He became interested in religious activities when he was only five years old. At a young age, he joined a gurdwara in the neighboring city of Jagraon and joined the Nanaksar sect, ”said Amarjeet Singh.
According to those closely associated with the gurdwara, another preacher from the Nanaksar sect had died during a protest 38 years ago.
“In 1982, Baba Jang Singh, who led this gurdwara, lost his life in Delhi during an uprising against the deaths of more than 30 people in an accident involving a train and a bus,” said Upinder Raj Singh, adding that His family had donated 13 acres of land to establish the gurdwara in 1971.
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