By PTI
SONIPAT: The Haryana Police has registered a case against the truck driver involved in the accident in which Punjabi actor-turned-activist Deep Sidhu died, officials said on Wednesday The 37-year-old actor, accused of being the key conspirator of the Red Fort violence on Republic Day last year, died Tuesday evening after his SUV hit a truck on Kundli-Manesar-Palwal expressway in Sonipat district.
He was travelling from Delhi to Punjab when the incident occurred near Pipli toll plaza in Kharkhoda, around 25 km from Singhu border, the epicentre of last year’s farmers’ protest against farm laws.
On the complaint of Deep Sidhu’s brother Maneep, a case has been registered against the truck driver for alleged rash and negligent driving, police said. Officials said the driver has been identified and would be arrested soon.
Meanwhile, Deep Sidhu’s body was handed over to his relatives after post mortem at the civil hospital here. The entire process was videographed. The body was cremated in a Ludhiana village in Punjab in the evening.
Sidhu had participated in the farmers’ agitation against the Centre’s three farm laws at the Delhi borders.
He was arrested on February 9, 2021, in connection with the Red Fort violence on Republic Day during the farmers’ tractor parade against the Centre’s three agriculture laws.
He was in jail for over two months before being released on bail. The actor, who hailed from Punjab’s Muktsar district, was reportedly present at the Red Fort when a religious flag and a farmer flag were put at the flagpole at the historic monument.
Following a massive outrage, Sidhu had then defended the protester’s action, saying they did not remove the national flag and had put up the ‘Nishan Sahib’ as a symbolic protest.
The ‘Nishan Sahib’, a symbol of the Sikh religion, is seen at all gurdwara complexes. At that time, Sidhu was accused by farm bodies of trying to defame their agitation and termed a “traitor”. He had hit out at farm leaders for allegedly spreading propaganda and hatred against him.
