Misleading: ASI Swaran Singh was murdered in Jalandhar, Punjab, on May 30, 2022.

By: Sunil Kumar
June 13 2022

Share Article:

Context: Against the backdrop of Sidhu Moose Wala's death in Punjab's Mansa district, several viral messages have circulated on social media questioning the Punjab administration. One such post is from Ajay Sehrawat, a spokesperson for BJP Delhi. The caption reads, "Lo Ji, now ASI Swaran Singh was shot dead in Punjab, Jalandhar. Who is running the Punjab government?" The post has garnered 7.6K likes and 3.4K retweets, but the claim is misleading. In fact: According to the Indian Express, Swaran Singh, the ASI, was a Sherpur village native who served as the Assistant Commissioner of Police's (ACP) driver. On May 29, 2022, while returning home with a fellow police officer after finishing his shift around midnight, Singh shot himself with his service revolver near ACP Sukhjinder Singh's residence. Ranjit Kaur, wife of Swaran Singh, speaking to the Indian Express, said that Singh's daughter, who lives in Canada, called Ranjit on May 29 night and informed her of a video circulating on social media. The video supposedly showed her father and two other police officers in an argument. Following that, Ranjit said, "After getting this information, I called up my husband, but he again did not take the call. Later, ACP Sukhjinder Singh picked up her husband's phone and told her that Swaran had shot himself." Ranjit Kaur also alleged that ACP Sukhjinder Singh was harassing her husband. Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Jalandhar Jagmohan Singh, speaking to the Indian Express, said that police had filed a case under Section 306 (abetment of suicide) against ACP (north Jalandhar) and two others after ASI's wife Ranji Kaur filed a complaint against them. Further, he stated that the investigation into the reason for ASI's harassment was ongoing. On May 31, 2022, I P Singh, an editor for the Times of India, citing the viral video of Swaran Singh in an argument with ACP, tweeted that ASI Swaran Singh blamed ACP Jalandhar North, Sukhjinder Singh, and two others for harassing him in his video message before his death. Verdict: ASI Swaran Singh shot himself with his service revolver. The incident was misquoted as being the victim of a shooting by an unidentified person. The cause of the death is under investigation, so we have marked this claim as misleading.