Sultanpur Lodhi (Kapurthala): Critically ailing drug addict Sonu, 32 — whose parents on Sunday said their four other sons had already died due to addiction and he too was on his deathbed — was taken by Kapurthala police and health officials to hospital on Monday following news reports of the family’s plight.Ruling AAP and Kapurthala police issued near-identical statements on Monday, calling the woman’s angst a “hue and cry”, and saying that a ‘field verification’ revealed that the four sons died due to different reasons, including one due to addiction and another in jail in a drugs case. Sonu’s mother Manjit on Monday, however, insisted that all her four dead sons were addicted to ‘Chitta’ (drugs), and so is the fifth.When police arrived at Pandori Mohalla of Sultanpur Lodhi town on Monday to carry out a search operation, Manjit Kaur and other women went up to them and laid bare their anger and anguish over easy supply of drugs in the area.Three young addicts were handed over by their familes to police on the spot to get them admitted at de-addiction centres. Manjit said one of them was her nephew. “Another young relative of ours, who is also an addict, locked himself in the bathroom and said that he would go to the de-addiction centre later,” Manjit Kaur told TOI. Sonu has been referred to Amritsar Govt Medical College for advanced treatment.In the presence of police officials during the search operation, his mother said in tears, “Now, police are helping me. I shall speak out the names of those who come from outside and those who live in our mohalla and sell drugs. They have made our mohalla a hell. I shall not allow further sale of drugs in my locality. I shall shout from the rooftops about drug peddlers so that other women don’t lose their sons to addiction like me.“Kapurthala SSP Gaurav Toora contested her allegation, saying: “The deaths of her four sons happened over eight years: one died eight years back due to alleged drug overdose; one died seven years back due to fire/burn injuries; one died seven years back in jail (had two criminal cases with one case of NDPS Act registered against him); and the fourth died two years back due to alleged liver failure (chronic alcoholic),” he said.“Now, one son is suffering from multiple health hazards. He has one case registered under NDPS Act in which he was arrested in 2023 with recovery of a narcotic substance. Moreover, he was convicted in the same NDPS Act case on Nov 29, 2025. He is a drug abuser and he was enrolled into OOAT centre for de-addiction treatment wherein he was administered medicine on March 30,” he said.“No recent drug deaths have been reported in the said area. Police have proactively registered four cases under NDPS Act with arrest of active drug peddlers in the same mohalla in the past few days only,” SSP Toora said.The ruling AAP echoed the SSP’s version, with state general secretary and ‘Yudh Nashean Virudh’ chief spokesperson Baltej Pannu alleging that the situation “has been misrepresented”. “No recent drug deaths have been reported in the area. The attempt to portray this as a single, recent drug-related tragedy is misleading and not supported by facts,” he said.Asked again on Monday, however, Manjit insisted that all her four sons were addicted to ‘Chitta’ (drugs) and that became the primary reason for their deaths. “The one who died due to fire was also an addict and had started smoking. He went to an upstairs room after consuming drugs. We came to know in the morning that smoke was coming out of the room. He probably died as he dozed off while smoking and his bed cover caught fire. We only found his charred body. My son who died in jail was also an addict and was arrested in a drug-related case. He died during the lockdown. My youngest son, Mithu, who died around two years back was also addicted and had started consuming alcohol also,” Manjit said.Another woman in the mohalla, Charanjit Kaur, said she lost her two sons to drug addiction — one seven years ago, and the other around three years back. “My elder son was married and had two kids. I still have the video of when he was found dead in December. The younger one, who was unmarried, died in a hospital. Our women have been weeping. Supply of Chita has not stopped. Our boys bring it from some other place, and it is also being supplied here,” she alleged.
