Farmer who Died After Tractor Overturned at ITO Recently Returned from Australia, Family Unaware He was in Delhi

According to a police officer, who was deployed at the barricade where the incident happened, said the tractor driver rammed into a police barrier to clear the barricaded road for other tractors to enter DDU marg.

New Delhi: The protesting farmer who died after his tractor overturned at Central Delhi’s ITO during the farmers’ tractor parade on Tuesday, had recently returned from Australia where he was studying and according to officials, his family had no idea that he had joined the protesters at the national capital’s borders.

The deceased has been identified as Navreet Singh Hundal, 27, who is a native of Bilaspur area of Rampur district in Uttar Pradesh and came to Ghazipur border around a week ago to participate in the parade. He had returned from Australia recently and was living in his village with his wife and parents and was into agriculture.

According to an Indian Express report, an official said, “The family told us they didn’t know Navreet was in Delhi and protesting with farmers. They said Navreet had left home to meet a relative at Bajpur (in Udham Singh Nagar district, Uttarakhand).”

Meanwhile, District Magistrate, Rampur, Aunjaneya Kumar Singh said the family suspects he went to Delhi from Bajpur, adding that they will take further action after they get official confirmation on Navreet’s death.

Circle Officer, Bilaspur, Satish Kumar said, “The family told us that Navreet had returned from Australia, where he was doing his graduation, due to some issues. We are yet to verify the reason.”

Footage of the incident showing a blue tractor crashing through yellow Delhi Police barricades at high speed before rolling over twice and coming to rest by the side of the road has been completely captured in CCTV cameras installed in the area.

#WATCH | A protesting farmer died after a tractor rammed into barricades and overturned at ITO today: Delhi Police

CCTV Visuals: Delhi Police pic.twitter.com/nANX9USk8V

— ANI (@ANI) January 26, 2021

According to a police officer, who was deployed at the barricade where the incident happened, said the tractor driver rammed into a police barrier to clear the barricaded road for other tractors to enter DDU marg.

Farmers draped the body in Tricolour and kept it at the ITO crossing, not allowing the police to send it for post-mortem. The farmers kept insisting on taking back the body to the village at the earliest. The farmers present at the site also lashed out at the mediapersons covering the incident.

Speaking about the incident, a senior Delhi Police officer said, “Some farmers were driving rashly in an attempt to hit us. We saw the tractor hitting the barricades. Our personnel went to rescue him, but a group of agitated farmers stopped them… It is suspected he died because of the accident.” The protesters were sitting with the body and had refused to let the police take it for postmortem till late Tuesday evening.

However, farmers denied the police version and claimed that the Navreet died after shot by the police. Manidev Chaturvedi, a farmer said, “The police fired a tear gas at Navreet, one of the shells hit him on the head and he lost control of the steering wheel. The police didn’t even help him.”

Meanwhile, Mintu Bajwa, deceased’s neighbour, said they came together to participate in the parade but never knew it would happen. The death needed to be investigated thoroughly because an eyewitness told him that a tear gas fired by a policeman hit Navreet’s head and he lost control over the vehicle and the vehicle overturned.

The tractor was part of a group from the Ghazipur border that had taken a detour from the agreed upon route for Tuesday’s rally, a senior police officer told news agency PTI.

Protesting farmers clashed with police at several places in the national capital and entered the iconic Red Fort and ITO in the heart of the city on Tuesday after hundreds of them deviated from pre-decided routes, prompting security personnel to resort to lathicharge and tear gas.

Chaotic scenes were witnessed at ITO, where hundreds of protesters could be seen chasing police personnel with sticks and ramming their tractors into the buses parked by police.