Gurpreet Gogi Bassi, Aam Aadmi Party’s MLA from the Ludhiana West constituency in Punjab was declared dead from a gunshot late on Friday night. The cause of death is yet to be determined.The 58-year-old AAP MLA was rushed to the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital at 12 am on Friday by family members, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.
The death was confirmed by district AAP president Sharanpal Singh Makkar and the commissioner of police Kuldeep Singh Chahal.
Upon receiving news of the MLA being shot, commissioner Chahal also reached hospital. He told an HT correspondent that an autopsy report would confirm if MLA Bassi had committed suicide or died due to an accidental firing.
Gogi had joined AAP in 2022 and defeated two-time MLA Bharat Bhushan Ashu during the assembly election from the Ludhiana (West) assembly constituency.
His wife Sukhchain Kaur Gogi was also a contestant in the Municipal Corporation elections but lost to Congress candidate Inderjit Singh Indi.
Earlier on Friday, the MLA had met with Punjab’s Vidhan Sabha speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan as well as MP Sant Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal in Ludhiana for a cleanliness drive of Buddha Nullah, reported an HT correspondent.
In August, 2024, Gurpreet Bassi Gogi had destroyed the foundation stone of a pipeline project in Buddha Nullah, for which he had laid the foundation stone in 2022. Gogi had expressed frustration over the delays in the project and speaker Sandhwan had promised strict action against any hindrance to the clean-up project in response to the AAP MLA’s grievances.
Before his death, on Friday, he also visited Prachin Sheetla Mata Mandir, and promised devotees that he would take action against a gang of burglars who had stolen silver from the temple two days ago.