Surinder Jakhar, Balram Jakhar

Jan. 17: Former Madhya Pradesh governor Balram Jakhar’s son Surinder Jakhar has died of a gunshot wound in Punjab. He was the chairperson of the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Co-operative (Iffco).

Family sources said Surinder was accidentally shot at in his farmhouse in Abohar in Ferozepur district of Punjab. He reportedly received a wound in his head and was taken to the Civil Hospital in Abohar where doctors declared him dead.

Ferozepur superintendent of police Surjit Singh said the 56-year-old was fatally wounded while cleaning his pistol.

Preliminary investigations showed the pistol went off accidentally and there was no foul play, the SP said.

Another police officer, Varinder Brar, said Surinder’s family gave a statement to the police saying he was killed in accidental fire from his licensed pistol at his Maujgarh farmhouse. They have requested the police that they do not want any action in the matter as the death was accidental.

The bullet had apparently hit Surinder in the temple.

Sources said Surinder had reached his farmhouse around 3pm and shortly afterwards the gunshots were heard. His driver rushed him to the hospital.

Surinder was a prominent figure in the co-operative movement and reputed for his sense of enterprise. As IFFCO chief, he had taken personal interest in working out a tie-up with the Chhattisgarh State Electricity Board to produce 1,100MW power through a joint venture company called IFFCO-Chhattisgarh Power Limited.

Under his stewardship, Iffco had also set up a dairy production project at Nellore in Andhra Pradesh where 9,000 cows from Australia and New Zealand were imported.

In November 2009, Surinder was re-elected member of the Global Board of the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA), where he had secured the second-highest number of votes among 804 polled.

The ICA Global Board has 23 members. Founded in 1895, the ICA is an independent NGO, which has 220 member organisations from 85 countries representing over one billion individuals worldwide.

Surinder was on the boards of many other co-operatives, including those at the grassroots level. When his father Balram Jakhar was the governor of Madhya Pradesh from 2004-2009, he seldom visited the state and avoided taking interest in farmer-related activities, ostensibly to keep himself away from controversy.

Surinder is the second of Balram Jakhar’s three sons. He is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter. His younger brother, Sunil, is a Congress legislator from Abohar.

Surinder’s body has been handed over to his family after post-mortem late this evening. He will be cremated at Panchkosi, the Jakhar family’s native village near Abohar, tomorrow.

Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said Surinder’s contribution to the co-operative movement had been invaluable.

“His death is a personal loss to me as we have always had close ties with the Jakhar family,” he said.