Lost parents to liquor tragedy, kids find saviour in Sonu Sood

GS Paul

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, August 5

Actor Sonu Sood, who won accolades for helping migrants reach back safely to their native places during the lockdown, has come to the rescue of four children who lost their father, a rickshaw-puller, in the Tarn Taran spurious liquor tragedy, and their mother, who couldn’t bear the shock of losing her husband.

The four — Karanbir (13), Gurpreet (11), Arshpreet (9) and Sandeep (5) — were accommodated temporarily by their uncle Sarwan Singh (deceased Sukhdev’s brother). He too felt helpless due to his meagre earnings.

“Due to financial constraints, I am unable to take care of my brother’s children. I am an auto-rickshaw driver. My wife, three daughters and a son are dependent on me,” he said.

The actor came across their plight through one of his friends in Punjab. Extending a helping hand, he tweeted: “I assure these little kids from Punjab will have a good home, a nice school and a bright future ahead.”

Talking to The Tribune, Sood said: “They are no more orphans now. I am there to take care of them. I was keenly following the liquor tragedy. I was moved to know the story of Tarn Taran-based four children. We are on the lookout for a best place where they could be accommodated and get good education.”

Sood roped in his friend Karan Gilhotra from Chandigarh to trace them and extend the help. Gilhotra, who is the chairman of the PHD Chambers of Commerce in Punjab, said already a children’s home, Mata Chaya Ashram, in Abohar, had been shortlisted for the children. “If their guardians permit, we will shift the children there. They will have homely atmosphere and their education will be taken care of by us,” he said.