The 43-year-old activist from Jalandhar, Simranjeet Singh, who was gunned-down in Phagwara in broad-day light on Saturday, was known in the bureaucratic, social and political circles all across the state for both good and bad reasons.
A sharp, shrewd man, Singh had the knack to dig out information from various quarters, which was to the liking or disliking of many. Those closely associated with him say that he started working in his father’s electrical shop and eventually moved on to start his own mobile repair business.
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His first brush with politics started around 2015, when he became a member of the Congress Sewa Dal. He remained closely associated with Tajinder Bittu, former Jalandhar Improvement Trust Chairman, who is now, in the BJP. Through him, Singh came in contact with many RTI activists, including Sanjay Sehgal and Ajay Sehgal; and then Chandigarh-based eminent lawyer HC Arora. Singh then started to dig out information from the departments using the RTI Act.
He built good contacts with the media to provide them with ‘meaty’ inside details. Many in the Municipal Corporation Jalandhar and other departments allege, that Singh worked at the behest of politicians, to help them provide with information against the government through RTI revelations.
The MC officials eventually got fed up from him, that they barred Singh from getting access to any files through the RTI Act, alleging that he had attempted to tamper with the records.
Later, he even reportedly acquired a law degree and started to file petitions in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The court, had in September, last dismissed his Public Interest Litigation, as it found that he had concealed the suspension of his advocate’s license since November 2022.
Most recently, Singh had moved a petition against the Jagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Act, over which the state government had been taking out the Shukrana Yatra.
He had also lodged complaints with the Enforcement Directorate against Punjab Minister Sanjeev Arora.
Singh had also opened front against Jalandhar Mayor Vaneet Dhir.
Recently, he had lodged a complaint with the state government against former Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal regarding evasion of stamp duty for some commercial property in Zirakpur.
Simranjeet’s close aides alleged that some gangsters and shooters, who were involved in the killing of financier Lucky Oberoi on February 6, were threatening Singh through messages.
He had lodged complaints on this matter with the police from time to time.
About a year ago, he narrowly escaped an attack on him when he was coming out of the Off Grid Gym in Model Town.
After the attack, he had sought security for himself.
Singh had two gunmen, who were not with him the morning of his murder, when he left his house in Krishna Nagar for some work in Phagwara.
Eventually, the police termed it to be a case of personal enmity with his maternal cousin Sharanjit Singh, who reportedly used his accomplice’s licensed weapon to shoot Simranjeet over monetary matters.
