Amritsar man had died in March

Many Indians are likely to be part of the Russian army fighting a war against Ukraine and a good number of them may be from Punjab, said Parminder Kaur, widow of Amritsar’s Tejpal Singh, who was killed fighting for Russia on March 12.

She said when she could not talk to Tejpal for quite some time, she managed to get the phone numbers of two persons known to her husband, who were also with the Russian army. Both of them belong to Amritsar district. Their names were Lovepreet Singh and Harpreet Singh, but she had forgotten the names of their village.

She said she had a conversation with Lovepreet Singh about a month ago to know about the whereabouts of her husband. He had told her that he was not aware about the exact location of Tejpal. He had also told her that he was trying to run away from Russia to be back with his family in India. She said she had come to know that the number of Indians fighting for Russia was quite high. After this, she could not contact Lovepreet as his phone was switched off.

On June 10, she came to know that Tejpal had died. The mother of a six-year-old son and a three-year-old daughter, Parminder stated, “I do not know the exact number of people from the region serving the Russian army but their families should come forward to disclose this. Since all of them are civilians with no combat background, they are deployed in the frontline while communication remains a big challenge for them”.

Meanwhile, Cabinet Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal on Saturday visited the house of Tejpal on behalf of the government. He announced that the Punjab Government would provide all possible help to the family of Tejpal Singh, who had died for the Russian army. He said the government was making efforts to bring back his body. The government was constantly in touch with the Ministry of External Affairs.