Bathinda: Seven suspected drug overdose deaths were reported in Punjab’s Malwa region in the week April 11-18 — a grim indicator of the scale of menace Punjab faces.Three of the deaths were reported in Fazilka district in two days, two died on the same day in Bathinda, and one died in Mansa. An international Kabaddi player died in Ferozepur of ailments linked to drugs.The youngest of the victims was a mere 16-year-old, and the oldest 45.The teenager was found dead in Mansa district, allegedly from a drug overdose, on Aug 11. Soon after that, kabaddi international Gurjit Singh Toot, 45, died while undergoing treatment at Guru Gobind Singh Medical College Hospital at Faridkot. Toot had fallen prey to drugs, which finally proved fatal.TOI had earlier reported how two youths, 29-year-old Gurwinder Singh of Jai Singh Wala village and Kuldeep Singh, 25, of Jodhpur Romana village in Bathinda, were found dead on a road leading to Bir Talab village near Bathinda on Aug 14. A syringe was found stuck in the arm of one of the youths.On Aug 18, Pawan Kumar, 25, of Danewala Satkosi village in Fazilka allegedly died of a drug overdose. The same day, 35km away, 21-year-old Karanjit Singh was found dead in Tahliwala Bodla village. This was less than 24 hours after Sukhjinder Singh, 41, of Panjawa village ODed.Punjab has been jolted by a string of alleged drug deaths — five reported from a single colony in Mohali in July — even as govt cracks down on the menace under its Yudh Nashia Virudh campaign. By July this year, Punjab Police had registered 52,432 FIRs and arrested 68,850 alleged drug traffickers in 500 days of the operation — averaging 105 FIRs and 138 arrests a day. Yet the menace has clawed deep into Punjab.FIRs in at least two cases — the deaths of Karanjit and the two youths at Bathinda — have been registered. A suspect has been arrested in Karanjit’s death.
