A 19-year-old junior national boxing champion was found dead in a field in Talwandi Sabo area of Bathinda, with police on Thursday stating drug overdose to be the cause of death.
According to details, junior national boxing champion, Kudleep Singh, had left home on Wednesday morning to go practice. However, he never reached the stadium. In the evening, Kuldeep’s body was found in a field on Rama Road, near a water channel.
According to eye witnesses, his mobile was lying near the body, while a syringe was also seen at the spot.
Police said they had received a complaint from Pritam Singh, the father of Kuldeep, after which an FIR has been lodged at Talwandi Sabo police station. The FIR names one Khushdeep Singh of Talwandi Sabo, along with 4-5 unknown people, against whom charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder have been invoked. Daljeet Singh, SHO of Talwandi Sabo said,”Investigations in the case is ongoing. The family has told us that this might be a drug overdose death.”
Meanwhile, Kudleep’s boxing coach, Hardeep Singh, said, “He [Kuldeep] was a bright kid and had won two gold medals in the Under 17 and Under 19 national boxing championships. He won a silver medal in the Junior National Boxing Championship. He had won several other medals and had played nearly 10 national events in different categories. We had the knowledge that he had been using narcotics in the past. At that time we had intervened and even counseled him. He started coming to the stadium for practice twice a day after that. However, he may have come in contact with his old suppliers and went missing on Wednesday morning. His body was later recovered in the evening. The menace of drugs is consuming the youths of Punjab. The peddlers should be arrested and handed the strictest punishment.”
Kuldeep’s fellow boxers too expressed shock at the incident and demanded that the police crackdown on the easy availability of drugs in the area. So far no arrests have been made in the case.