A narrow lane with open drains on either side leads to the house of Gulzar Singh in Toor Banzara village of Dirba constituency of Sangrur district. There are barely eight houses in the lane, and Gulzar’s house stands at the very end.Now, the bare two-room house, with unplastered walls, also finds itself at the centre of a simmering controversy, following the death of Gulzar, 53, an agricultural labourer, apparently by suicide, pained over the unchecked supply of drugs in his village and his son’s addiction.He is said to have consumed pesticide soon after trying to question Punjab Finance Minister and Dirba MLA Harpal Singh Cheema, who was visiting Toor Banzara, over what the government was doing to keep drugs away from youngsters like his son.Also Read | Punjab man, who questioned minister over drug menace, dies after consuming poisonAccording to Gulzar’s family, the 53-year-old was threatened and humiliated after this, and made to apologise to Baljit Singh, the husband of village sarpanch Baljinder Kaur. Says his 23-year-old son Sehbaz Singh: “My father left home at around 10.30 am on Monday. But when he came back at around noon, he had already consumed Sulphas.” He died at hospital on Monday night.The family says Gulzar confronted Cheema as he was broken after having failed to rid his eldest son of his drug addiction. A daily wager, the 26-year-old claims to earn around Rs 800 a day, most of which he spends on drugs.His mother Pal Kaur says the 26-year-old got addicted a couple of years ago, and now, they never leave the house unattended. “One person has to remain at home or he steals one thing or the other and sells it to meet his needs. Last year, he stole my gold earrings. He has sold utensils, the LPG cylinder, whatever he finds,” says Pal, who is in her early 50s.Prabhjot’s grandmother Bant Kaur points to the bathroom and says he once even sold the buckets, mugs and a tub.Story continues below this adThis year, the 26-year-old went one step further. “He sold almost the entire wheat stock which Gulzar had harvested and stored… Now we don’t even have one kilogram of wheat left,” says Bant.Also read | 50% of Punjab jail inmates drug-dependent; court calls it ‘serious challenge’According to the family, the youth sold the stock bit by bit, including some of it last week. Pal says this was the last straw for Gulzar, who earned the wheat after working in the fields of a landlord. “Gulzar was deeply upset. That is why he went to Cheema to explain his pain. Who knew he would be humiliated thus?” says Bant Kaur.On Tuesday, police arrested five people – sarpanch Baljinder and her husband Baljit, panchayat members Vicky and Gona Singh, and Sukhdev Singh alias Sukha, president of the gurdwara management committee where Cheema’s programme was held – under charges of abetment to suicide and provisions of the SC/ST Act. A four-member SIT has been constituted to examine the role of police officials and others.Sehbaz, Gulzar and Pal’s middle son, is the only one in his family to have gone to college, while their youngest, 22-year-old Lakhwinder Singh alias Lakha, is a school dropout who rears goats. A second-year BA student at Sangrur’s Ranbir Government College, Sehbaz is filling the paperwork now for the job promised by the Punjab government as compensation for Gulzar’s death.Story continues below this adAlso read | Two routes, one destination: How heroin is entering Jammu from Punjab and KashmirSehbaz says he hopes to continue his studies and finish graduation as a correspondence student. His aim had always been to clear a recruitment exam for a government job, he adds.Sangrur district officials said he is likely to be employed in the Deputy Commissioner’s office, based on his educational qualifications.The family hopes Gulzar’s death will jolt the government into acting against the easy availability of drugs in Sangrur, which happens to be Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann’s native district. In Prabhjot’s own words, “Getting a dose is as easy as getting salt from the market.”Villagers talk of drugs being a phone call, a delivery or a drive to nearby Dirba town away. In Gulzar’s family, a nephew died of addiction about a year ago at the age of 30, while another relative died in July this year.Story continues below this adBetween the launch of the Punjab government’s anti-drug Yudh Nasheyan Virudh campaign on March 1 last year and this week, 3,757 kg of heroin have been seized across the state, 964 kg of opium, nearly 45 tonnes of poppy husk, 1,288 kg of ganja and 71 kg of ICE or methamphetamine. Police have also seized around 62 lakh tablets and capsules, besides approximately Rs. 22 crore in alleged drug proceeds, and arrested 25,339 people.At the same time, admissions to government-run de-addiction centres continue to rise, nearly tripling from 9,577 in 2024 to 25,290 in 2025. Till July this year, more than 14,000 people had got admitted to these centres.