Chandigarh.(PTI): The mortal remains of professional bodybuilder and actor Varinder Singh Ghuman, who passed away on Thursday, were consigned to flames in Jalandhar on Friday.
A large number of mourners, including politicians and artists, attended the cremation at Model Town cremation ground in Jalandhar.
Ghuman, who had gone to a private hospital in Amritsar after experiencing shoulder pain, suffered heart attack there on Thursday evening, his family said.
In a statement issued on Friday, Fortis Escorts, Amritsar, said the 41-year-old was evaluated in the outpatient department on October 6 for pain and restricted movement in his right shoulder.
It said, "Following clinical assessment, arthroscopic rotator cuff repair with biceps tenodesis was advised. The patient had no known comorbidities. He underwent the planned procedure under general anaesthesia on October 9. The surgery was uneventful and was completed around 3 pm with stable vital parameters throughout...
"At approximately 3.35 pm, the patient developed a sudden cardiac arrhythmia. The anaesthesia, cardiology, cardiac anaesthesia and critical care teams immediately initiated advanced resuscitation measures. Despite sustained and coordinated efforts, the patient could not be revived and was declared dead at 5.36 pm," the Fortis Escorts said in the statement.
Ghuman had worked with superstar Salman Khan in the film 'Tiger 3' in 2023 and other Hindi films like 'Roar: Tigers of Sundarbans' in 2014 and 'Marjaavan' in 2019. He also worked in the Punjabi film 'Kabaddi Once Again' in 2012.
Ghuman, who was 6 feet 2 inches tall, won the Mr India title in 2009 and secured second place in the Mr Asia pageant.
A native of Gurdaspur, he was currently residing in Jalandhar, where he also owned a gym. Known as a "vegetarian bodybuilder", he was passionate about fitness
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New Delhi: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said that four to five lakh “Miya voters” would be removed from the electoral rolls in the state once the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists is carried out. He also made a series of controversial remarks openly targeting the Miya community, a term commonly used in Assam in a derogatory sense to refer to Bengali-speaking Muslims.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an official programme in Digboi in Tinsukia district, Sarma said it was his responsibility to create difficulties for the Miya community and claimed that both he and the BJP were “directly against Miyas”.
“Four to five lakh Miya votes will have to be deleted in Assam when the SIR happens,” Sarma said, adding that such voters “should ideally not be allowed to vote in Assam, but in Bangladesh”. He asserted that the government was ensuring that they would not be able to vote in the state.
The chief minister was responding to questions about notices issued to thousands of Bengali-speaking Muslims during the claims and objections phase of the ongoing Special Revision (SR) of electoral rolls in Assam. While the Election Commission is conducting SIR exercises in 12 states and Union Territories, Assam is currently undergoing an SR, which is usually meant for routine updates.
Calling the current SR “preliminary”, Sarma said that a full-fledged SIR in Assam would lead to large-scale deletion of Miya voters. He said he was unconcerned about criticism from opposition parties over the issue.
“Let the Congress abuse me as much as they want. My job is to make the Miya people suffer,” Sarma said. He claimed that complaints filed against members of the community were done on his instructions and that he had encouraged BJP workers to keep filing complaints.
“I have told people wherever possible they should fill Form 7 so that they have to run around a little and are troubled,” he said, adding that such actions were meant to send a message that “the Assamese people are still living”.
In remarks that drew further outrage, Sarma urged people to trouble members of the Miya community in everyday life, claiming that “only if they face troubles will they leave Assam”. He also accused the media of sympathising with the community and warned journalists against such coverage.
“So you all should also trouble, and you should not do news that sympathise with them. There will be love jihad in your own house.” He said.
The comments triggered reactions from opposition leaders. Raijor Dal president and MLA Akhil Gogoi said the people of Assam had not elected Sarma to keep one community under constant pressure. Congress leader Aman Wadud accused the chief minister of rendering the Constitution meaningless in the state, saying his remarks showed a complete disregard for constitutional values.
According to the draft electoral rolls published on December 27, Assam currently has 2.51 crore voters. Election officials said 4.78 lakh names were marked as deceased, 5.23 lakh as having shifted, and 53,619 duplicate entries were removed during the revision process. Authorities also claimed that verification had been completed for over 61 lakh households.
On January 25, six opposition parties the Congress, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad, CPI, CPI(M) and CPI(M-L) submitted a memorandum to the state’s chief electoral officer. They alleged widespread legal violations, political interference and selective targeting of genuine voters during the SR exercise, describing it as arbitrary, unlawful and unconstitutional.
