Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader from Punjab Jagdish Gagneja, who was attacked by two motorcycle-borne assailants near Jyoti Chowk in August, passed away on Thursday at Ludhiana’s Hero Heart Institute. He was 68.
Confirming his death, Dr. GS Wander, Director of Hero Heart Institute said,” his health was deteriorating for the past one week and today early morning his BP fell. He was declared dead at about 9.16 am. He had multiple organ failure.”
Gagneja had sustained three bullet injuries in his abdominal area along with a head injury as he had fallen on road after being hit. The veteran RSS leader had been put on a ventilator ever since he was admitted to the hospital.
As Punjab vice-president of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Gagneja was the key person on the RSS-BJP interface. A powerful interlocutor, he was an oversight for the BJP’s political action plans in poll-bound Punjab.
An FIR against two unidentified persons was lodged at police station, Division 4 in Ludhiana after the attack on Gagneja. Five weeks after the attack on Gagneja, a CBI team launched an inquiry.
The police also announced a reward of Rs. 10 lakh and a job to anyone providing information on the shooters. However, it has drawn a blank so far.
The Jalandhar police had got hold of CCTV video of different places in which two youths, wearing ‘patkas’ (a religious headgear worn by young Sikh boys) and with their faces covered with cloth, were seen moving around on a motorcycle.
Apart from family members of the deceased, many senior RSS and BJP leaders including Phul Chand Jain, Anil Sareen, Commissioner of Police Jatinder Singh Aulakh and Dr Rishi Pal, ADC Ludhiana district were present at the hospital to pay their last respects.
