Dalit Man's Suicide in Punjab Puts Minister Harpal Cheema in the Eye of a Political Storm

A death, a dying declaration, and a political firestorm

The death of a Dalit man in Punjab's Sangrur district has thrust the Aam Aadmi Party government into a fierce political controversy, with the Opposition demanding the resignation of Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema and questioning the credibility of the state's high-decibel anti-drugs drive.

Gulzar Singh, a resident of Toor Banjara village in the Dirba assembly constituency, was a daily-wage earner whose son was battling drug addiction. Dirba is represented by Cheema, a prominent Dalit face of the AAP, and the village falls in Sangrur — the home district of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

The confrontation and its aftermath

On September 6, 2026, Gulzar Singh confronted Cheema publicly during the minister's visit to the village, asking why drugs were being sold openly there. He told the minister that three young men in the area had already died of addiction and that his own son was a user.

According to the account that has since fuelled the political row, instead of acting on the information, the minister's staff and local residents moved him aside. That evening, he was allegedly summoned and subjected to pressure and demands for an unconditional public apology for questioning the minister.

Two days later, on September 8, Gulzar Singh consumed a poisonous substance and died. Before his death, he recorded a video statement naming Cheema and local panchayat members as responsible for the intimidation he faced.

FIR names local leaders, not the minister

Police registered a case against the village sarpanch, her husband and three others on charges of abetment to suicide and under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Cheema is not named in the FIR, even though the dying declaration circulating widely names him.

The omission has become the central flashpoint. The Congress, the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal have all described the FIR as a cover-up. The AAP has dismissed the charge as "vulture politics".

The government announced compensation of Rs 5 lakh and promised employment to a member of Gulzar Singh's family. The Opposition, however, is pressing for Cheema's resignation and action against him.

Opposition cites an earlier case

Opposition leaders have drawn a parallel with another AAP minister, Laljit Singh Bhullar, who resigned from the cabinet on March 21, 2026, after allegations that he abetted the suicide of a state warehousing official. Bhullar was arrested and has been in jail for seven months, according to Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa.

"There cannot be two laws in this country," Bajwa said, arguing that if Bhullar was arrested on the basis of a dying declaration, Cheema should face the same treatment. He accused AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal of shielding Cheema and said the party would take the matter to the streets and the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

BJP Rajya Sabha MP Tarun Chugh alleged that instead of investigating the drug mafia, the minister sent his men to pressure the family. Congress leader Sachin Pilot said the state's condition was a concern for the entire country, noting that the Chief Minister had promised to end the drug problem within three months but that more drugs were being sold than before. Pilot also reminded the AAP of its poll promise to appoint a Dalit MLA as Deputy Chief Minister.

Cheema denies role, points to past governments

Cheema has rejected the allegations, calling them a conspiracy by the BJP, the Akali Dal and the Congress to frame a minister and exploit a death for votes. He said he has enough evidence to answer every charge and would place it on record once the police and the Special Investigation Team complete their work.

"I will not try this case on a microphone," he said, adding that the High Court has already held that a minister cannot be dragged in merely because someone makes a statement.

On the drug crisis, Cheema shifted the blame to previous governments, asking who had pushed Punjab into the "swamp of drugs" during the 2007-2017 BJP-Akali Dal coalition rule, when, he said, the word "chitta" first entered the state's vocabulary.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann backed his minister, accusing the Opposition of rushing to every incident to demand resignations and describing the approach as "vulture politics".

Why the stakes are high

Punjab has the largest share of Dalits in its population among all states, at 32 per cent. The death of a Dalit man in a constituency represented by a Dalit minister has handed the Opposition a potent line of attack on the AAP's record on Dalit welfare and its anti-drugs campaign, six months ahead of assembly polls.