The police said a case has been registered and further investigation is underway (Representational)
Former Punjab Minister Jagdish Singh Garcha, his wife, sister, and their domestic help were found unconscious at the minister's home in a suspected case of robbery in Ludhiana.
According to the police, the house, in the city's Maharaja Ranjit Singh Nagar area, was ransacked and several valuable items are missing.
The police suspect the role of a male domestic help - hired around three months back without proper police verification, since he is missing since the robbery. He allegedly served food laced with sedatives on Sunday night to everyone at home and fled with cash and jewellery once they were asleep.
Mr Garcha, his wife, his sister and the domestic help were found unconscious this morning, the police said.
Nobody from the family answered the doorbell in the morning which triggered suspicion, a family friend said. After the police arrived, they found the four people lying unconscious and rushed them to a hospital nearby.
Ludhiana Police Commissioner Mandeep Singh Sidhu said that the family had employed the male domestic help around three months back and did not get his police verification done. The family also doesn't have his photo, he added.
The police said a case has been registered and further investigation is underway.
Jagdish Singh Garcha is a two-time MLA from the Kila Raipur seat. He was a minister in the Akali government.
Once a close confidant of former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, he left the Shiromani Akali Dal in 2020.