Batala man, sister-in-law end life at Golden Temple

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 20

A Batala resident, identified as Amritpal Singh (30), and his 18-year-old sister-in-law Kirandeep Kaur reportedly ended their lives by consuming some poisonous substance inside the Golden Temple Complex.

This is perhaps the first such incident inside the Golden Temple Complex, although there have been cases of attempted suicides into the 'sarovar' of the holy shrine. But these have been foiled by Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) personnel.

The incident came to light when a sewadar went to wake them up for cleaning the floor. On getting no response, he called the SGPC authorities.

The victims were rushed to Guru Ram Das Hospital where they were declared dead. The two were said to have an affair and were facing opposition from their families, said the police.

SHO, Kotwali police station, Lakhwinder Singh said the two had been missing since May. “The families have refused to come to Amritsar. But we are trying to persuade them." The SHO said cases under the Dowry Act and attempt to suicide were registered against Amritpal by the Batala police.

Hours after the incident, a couple of video grabs of Amritpal Singh and Kirandeep Kaur went viral. Amritpal had uploaded these videos on a social networking site, blaming their families for the extreme step. Amritpal alleged that the Batala police had implicated him at the behest of his in-laws. The two claimed that they were not in a relationship, alleging that their families were defaming them. They said they had decided to end their lives as they had lost everything.