Punjabi actor-turned-activist Deep Sidhu, accused of being the key consp⛦irator of the Red Fort violence on Republic Day last year, died Tuesday evening after his car hit a truck on Kundli-Manesar-Palwal expressway in Haryana's Sonipat district, police said.
The 37-year-old actor was said to 🐠be travelling from Delhi to Punjab when the incident occurred near Pipli toll plaza in Kharkhoda.
The accident spot was around 25 km from Singhu border, the epicentre of last 🐬year's farmers' protest against farm laws.
Kh🌠arkhoda police station Inspector Jaspal Singh said, "Deep Sidhu died in the accident. A female friend accompanying him wa♎s taken to a hospital where her condition was stable."
An investigation t𒁏o determine the exact cause of the accideꦍnt was underway, he said.
According to the police, Sidhu had sustained serious head injuries in the accident. TV visuals showed the white SUV badly damaged on the driver's side after it rammed into the stꩲationary truck.
Senior police officials from So🌳nipat district have reache💎d the accident site.
Sidhu had participated in the farmers' agitation against the Centre's three farm laws at the Delhi b🌳orders.
He was arrested on Feb💛ruary 9, 2021, in connection with the Red Fort violence on Republic Day during the farmers' tractor parade against the Centre's three agriculture laws. He was in jail for over two months before being released on bail.
The chief minister and several political leaders of poll-bound Punjab, expressed thei♑r grief 𒐪over the incident.
Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi tweeted, "Deeply saddened to learn about the unfo𝔍rtunate demise of renowned actor and social activist Deep Sidhu. My thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved family and his fans."
Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal said that the untimely death of the actor and activist Sidhu has come as a shock to his admirers and the entire film fraternit🐼y.
"The lawyer-turned-artiste from Muktsar was an insp🌳iration for many. Sincere condolences to his family and prayers for the departed soul," Badal tweeted.
AAP'ꦛs Punjab unit chief and Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann also expressed grief over the death of Sidhu.
The actor, who hailed from Punjab's Muktsar district, was reportedly present at the Red Fort when a religious flag and a farmer flag were put at the flagpole at the🧸 histori🃏c monument.
Following a massive outrage, Sidhu had then defended the protester's action, saying they ꧂did not remove the national flag and had put up the 'Nishan Sahib' as a symbolic protest♐.
The 'Nishan Sahib', a symbol of Si🧸kh religion, is seen at all gurdwara complexes.
At that time, Sidhu was accused by farm bodies of trying to defame their agitation and termed a "traitor&q🎉uot;. He had hit out at farm leaders for allege⛎dly spreading propaganda and hatred against him.
Sidhu was 🏅also a close aide of BJ⭕P MP Sunny Deol, who contested from the Gurdaspur seat in Punjab during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He had remained with Deol during the poll campaigning.
Deol🌳 however had distanced himself from Sidhu after he joined the farmers' agitation.
