Farmer dies near Tikri border

Chandigarh, December 17 

A 38-year-old farmer from Punjab was found dead at a protest site near the Tikri border on Thursday morning, police said.

Jai Singh, a resident of Tungwali village in Bathinda district, and his brother had been part of the farmers' protest at the Haryana-Delhi border against the Centre's three farm laws for the last several days, according to Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) leader Shingara Singh.

Jai Singh was found dead in the morning. The exact cause of the death could be ascertained after a post mortem, an official of the Bahadurgarh police in Haryana said.

Singh's brother suspected that he might have died of a heart attack. The body was sent to the Bahadurgarh civil hospital in Jhajjar district, the official said.

Shingara Singh demanded a compensation of Rs 10 lakh and a government job for the kin of the deceased.

Around 20 farmers, many of them are from Punjab, have so far died either of natural causes or in road accidents, the BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) leader said.

The farmers have been camping at several border points into Delhi for three weeks, demanding that the new farm laws be repealed as they claim it would benefit the corporates and end the traditional wholesale markets and the minimum support price regime.  PTI