E-Paper
Domestic help drugs ex-minister Garcha, family; decamps with gold jewellery, cash
The family has no picture of the accused; the police are scanning CCTVs to know if the Nepalese domestic help had executed the crime with the help of his aides
Hired three months ago, a Nepalese domestic help drugged former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) minister Jagdish Singh Garcha (88), his wife, sister, a woman domestic help and robbed cash, jewellery besides other valuables from the house on Sunday.
On Monday morning, the construction labourers, hired by Garcha, noticed something unusual in the house and alerted the neighbours, who further informed the police. The police reached Maharaja Ranjit Singh Nagar on Pakhowal road and found Garcha, his wife Daljit Kaur, sister Sukhdev Kaur and domestic help Renu lying unconscious in different rooms. The house was ransacked. Garcha’s son Bobby and his wife were not home on Sunday and had gone out of the city.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jagmohan Sharma, who is a neighbour of Garcha, said after the labourers raised an alarm, he reached the spot and was shocked to see all members of the family lying unconscious and the domestic help was missing.
Family didn’t get servant verification done: Commissioner
Commissioner of police Mandeep Singh Sidhu said the family had hired a Nepalese domestic help three months ago and did not get his police verification done. The family has no picture of the accused and their relatives told the police that they hired him through a Khanna resident, whose mobile phone is also switched off. The police are scanning CCTVs to know if the Nepalese domestic help had executed the crime with the help of his aides.
Harpreet Garcha, nephew of the former minister, said they have informed his son Bobby Garcha, who has gone to Delhi.
Garcha, a two-time MLA from Kila Raipur constituency, remained cabinet minister for technical education in the SAD government from 1997 to 2002. A staunch loyalist of former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, Garcha was arrested by the vigilance bureau in an alleged corruption case. In 2020, Garcha joined the SAD (Sanyukt).
Second such incident in past 6 days
It is the second such incident in the past six days. Earlier, on September 11, a Nepalese woman domestic help, with the help of her two accomplices, had allegedly sedated her employer, his wife and decamped with cash, jewellery and other valuables from a house in Phase 2 of Urban Estate, Focal Point.
