Gurjant’s mother Surjit, son Jatinder and father Harnek. Picture by Darshan Wadhwa

Mauran (Sangrur), Aug. 16: Every day for the past one week, Surjit Kaur, 75, has limped almost a kilometre from this village to the highway on her arthritic legs.

She had been hoping her younger son Gurjant (not Gurjar as mentioned in the FIR) would jump off a bus and greet her with a hug.

The family did not know, till The Telegraph met them today in their rundown home, that Gurjant, 40, had been charged with conspiracy and attempt to murder Mamata Banerjee with his truck.

“Why has he been arrested? He has always been a careful driver. Who will help pay off our debts now?” Surjit asked, her wrinkled hands folded and tears running down her cheeks.

Gurjant’s father Harnek Singh, 85, who is hard of hearing, nodded. “All is lost for us,” he said. “What will happen to his children? He had promised me new clothes this time,” Harnek said pointing to his dirty, torn kurta and shorts.

“Both Mamata and the Bengal government should send teams to this village to see for themselves if we have the time or inclination to dabble in conspiracies of any sort,” a neighbour said.

“Gurjant is being made a pawn in the political battle between Mamata and the Left,” the neighbour added.

Until today, the family had only known of Gurjant’s arrest on August 9 for rash driving after his truck intruded into Mamata’s convoy as she was returning from the Lalgarh rally. The family said they were not aware of his re-arrest on August 11.

Surjit at first refused to believe the attempt-to-murder charges. “He has never even raised his hands on his children or any other person,” she said.

“We are poor and so we are born to suffer,” Gurjant’s wife Gurbans said, her eyes fixed on the lane her husband had taken when he left home on July 25.

The children, two daughters and a son, have stopped going to school fearing classmates’ questions. “We appeal to the Bengal government to send our father home,” said eldest daughter Parvinder.

The family survives on the produce from the five bighas it owns. Gurjant’s elder brother Veer also works as a driver to supplement the family’s income. He too has two daughters and a son.

The family of 12 lives in a partially built house that has four rooms. Two new rooms, whose construction began many years ago, are yet to be completed for lack of money.

“We had borrowed Rs 3 lakh to buy buffaloes a few years ago. We need to repay it. Gurjant earned between Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,000 on each trip,” Harnek said.

Worried at the delay in Gurjant’s return, Veer had called him on August 10, when Gurjant had just got bail and had decided to stay back and wait for the police to release his truck.

“He told me about his arrest and said he desperately needed help. He said his brakes had failed. We haven’t been able to speak to him since,” Veer said.

Veer and Harnek wanted to travel to Calcutta but could not arrange the money for the trip. Veer, however, hopes to accompany the truck owner, Narinder Singh, to Calcutta and be present in court when Gurjant’s 12-day police remand ends on August 24.

The villagers have decided to pool the money for the trip.

Narinder said: “My loaded truck has been seized by the police. We expect Gurjant will be released along with the truck when his remand ends. He was a good driver who undertook long trips to Bengal several times and never had any problems. That is why I depended on him for long journeys.”

Villagers said the family, which is from the Jat community, did not have political links.

“But since Shiromani Akali Dal leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa belongs to the district, we have approached him to use his good offices with the Bengal government and Mamata to get Gurjant released,” Baldev, a villager, said.

A prayer was held for Gurjant and Mamata at the Sant Kutia Gurdwara near SSKM Hospital in Calcutta this afternoon. “We prayed for Mamata Banerjee’s speedy recovery, and also for Gurjant. If he is innocent, he should be set free,” said one of the 100-odd devotees who were at the shrine during the 12.30pm prayer.