Punjab: Jalandhar man missing since Nov in custody of Pak Rangers, claim parents

Chandigarh, Dec 25 (PTI) The parents of a 23-year-old man, who went missing from Punjab's Jalandhar district in November, have claimed that their son has been held by Pakistani Rangers after he crossed the Indo-Pakistan border inadvertently.

They urged the Centre to bring their son back to India.

Sharandeep Singh, a resident of village Bhoypur near Shahkot in Jalandhar, went missing on November 2 and since then did not return.

His father Satnam Singh said on Wednesday that he came to know that his son has been apprehended by Pakistani Rangers through social media.

He said that Sharandeep left the house on November 2 with his friend Mandeep Singh.

Satnam said his son might have crossed the border under the influence of some drug. He said Sharandeep was a good wrestler, but after he hurt his hand in a fight with some boys, he went into depression and became a drug addict.

"On November 2, he left the house with his friend. We thought he would be in Shahkot," Satnam said.

When Sharandeep did not return, his parents started a search for him. His father said that when he asked Mandeep about the whereabouts of his son, he initially did not reveal anything.

He added that upon questioning Mandeep again he told them that he left Sharandeep at Rattoke village in Khemkaran.

Sharandeep’s family lodged a missing person’s complaint on November 7. “We tried to search for him, but he could not be located,” Satnam said.

He said on December 21, he saw on social media a photograph of Sharandeep purportedly in the custody of Pakistani Rangers.

Satnam said that his son was put in a drug-de-addiction centre last year. "We were to send him to the drug addiction centre again but he went missing," he added.

Satnam and his wife Amarjeet Kaur urged the government of India to bring back their son from Pakistan. PTI CHS VSD OZ OZ