Ludhiana: Three Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers from Sangrur died after their car fell into a pond near Bassian village on Raikot Road early on Thursday. Two other occupants survived the accident.The victims were travelling from Nakodar to Sangrur. According to Ludhiana Rural police, the accident occurred when the driver allegedly swerved to avoid a stray animal on the road. The occupants reportedly failed to notice the pond due to poor visibility in the dark.There were five people in the car. Villagers managed to rescue two of them, while three died.The deceased are Sandeep Singh, a resident of Atala village in Patran; Balkar Singh of Rongla village in Sangrur; and Vishal of Dhaula Patti village in Dirba. Sandeep, deputy district president of AAP in Patiala, was driving the car.Bikramjit Singh of Burar village and Puneet Goyal of Patran were injured. The victims are said to have been close to cabinet minister Harpal Singh Cheema.Sources said the incident took place around 1am when a stray animal suddenly appeared in front of the vehicle near a turn close to Bassian village.Sandeep reportedly lost control of the allegedly speeding car, which plunged into the pond.Soon after, villagers informed the police and launched a rescue operation. They managed to pull all five occupants out of the vehicle, but Sandeep, Balkar and Vishal had died by then. The injured were initially taken to Raikot Civil Hospital and later referred to Ludhiana for further treatment.Inspector Heera Singh, SHO of Sadar Raikot police station, said the occupants failed to negotiate the sharp turn where a stray animal reportedly came in front of the vehicle. However, police are examining CCTV footage to verify the sequence of events. He added that the two survivors are not in a condition to give statements.Jagraon MLA Sarvjit Kaur Manuke reached the spot and said the death of the three young workers was an irreparable loss to the party cadre.
