Discrepancies emerge regarding Deep Sidhu’s death

After the death of respected activist Deep Sidhu, much of the global Sikh community openly declared they believe he was murdered by the Indian state because of his advocation for Sikh sovereignty. Since then, details around his death are furthering concerns about how Sidhu died. Here we share some of those discrepancies.

After the wreckage from the collision which caused Deep Sidhu’s death was found, one of the first thing sangat (Sikh congregation) did was to video the inside of the vehicle and examine its contents. This was done in belief that authorities would plant something which would suggest Deep had been intoxicated whilst driving, specifically stated during the filming of the video.

Even after these videos were circulated and the predication that it would happen, a Zee News journalist soon released a video claiming a bottle of wine had been found in Deep’s vehicle. Zee News are viewed as an example of the “Godi Media” state propaganda outlets of India, which sees the country ranked 142nd in press freedom rankings.

The video was quickly fact-checked by Sikh diaspora focused news outlet Baaz.

Further discrepancies emerged within the same press address by Delhi police the next day, who contradicted their own statements about how the crash occurred.

Along with the inconsistent statements from police, there were also very visible tire marks which point towards a hard break of a vehicle which led to the crash, immediately visible behind the wreckage. This was pointed out by Dr Prabhjot Singh through his Free5ab activism account on Instagram. Sidhu’s girlfriend who was in the vehicle has also been quoted as saying the truck their jeep crashed into braked suddenly on the highway. No more information on the truck or its driver have yet been revealed.

The same thread pointing out evidence which suggests Deep Sidhu may have been murdered also highlighted a change of wearing trousers to jeans within a short period of his body being transferred from the wreckage to the morgue. Sikh PA will not be sharing these pictures as they also show Deep’s body after the accident.

Beyond these discrepancies, India’s history of targeting Sikh activists and even the country’s politicians using car crashes to murder those that threaten their power have fuelled a belief that Deep Sidhu was murdered. Read about the example pictured below here.

Deep Sidhu’s charismatic manner of articulating Sikh causes saw him become a leading voice during the year long #FarmersProtest. He was one of very few public figures that placed Sikhi (the Sikh faith) at the centre of the movement. Specifically though, it was his advocation of Khalistan (free Sikh homeland movement) and Sikh sovereignty in general which saw him labelled a threat to the current Indian power structure. These stances are the same reason many Sikhs have been imprisoned or murdered by state authorities since at least the 1980s in India.

With Deep Sidhu now being cremated, any further insight into how he died is unlikely. However, India’s history and previous targeting of Deep Sidhu, among various #FarmersProtest supporters, support the idea it is reasonable to believe he was murdered.