Accused in Red Fort violence, Deep Sidhu dies in road accident

Police said the incident took place when the actor along with his fiancé, Reena Rai, a US-based actress, was going towards Punjab from Delhi in a SUV which rammed a truck near Pipli toll plaza in Sonepat’s Kharkhauda.

Punjabi actor Deep Sidhu, 43, an accused in the Red Fort violence case, died in a road accident on the Kundli-Manesar- Palwal expressway near Pipli toll plaza in Sonepat on Tuesday evening, police said.

Actor Deep Sidhu is an accused in the violence on Republic Day during a farmers' tractor rally. (PTI)

Police said the incident took place when the actor along with his fiancé, Reena Rai, a US-based actress, was going towards Punjab from Delhi in a SUV which rammed a truck near Pipli toll plaza in Sonepat’s Kharkhauda.

A Sonepat police spokesperson said Sidhu and Rai were rushed to a community health centre in Kharkhauda, where the actor succumbed his injuries and Rai was referred to Civil Hospital.

“Senior police officials have rushed to the spot,” the spokesman added.

Sidhu, arrested on February 9 last year, was named in the charge sheet filed by the Delhi Police in connection with the the violence at the Red Fort on January 26, 2020, following a tractor rally taken out by farmers protesting against the now-repealed three farm laws. The rally descended into chaos after the protesters broke barriers and entered the city, diverging from the pre-decided route, and clashed with security personnel at several places.

In the charge sheet, the police have attached a video allegedly showing Sidhu throwing away the national flag. “At the very same time (after rioters climbed the ramparts) another member from mob handed him (Sidhu) over the national flag to hoist it alongside the Nishan Sahib, but the individual (Sidhu) over the pole threw away the national flag,” it said.