in a road accident near Bikaner in Rajasthan.
They had gone there for celebrating their 25th marriage anniversary on January 2, along with their family friends. Two of their friends also died.
Rajiv Sharma, vice-principal of Spring Dale Senior Secondary School, said on Sunday that both Shavinder and Manveen were on way to Bikaner from Jaislamer in their Montero SUV when the mishap took place. He said a tyre of Montero busted following which the vehicle rammed into a truck leading to the tragic deaths. Ajay Singh from Delhi and Baldev Singh Sohi were the other victims. Rajiv said the bodies were being airlifted and the last rites were likely to be performed by Monday noon.
The couple is survived by son Sahiljit Sandhu, pursuing aeronautic engineering in the USA, and Kirat Sandhu, a medical student in Chandigarh, and father SS Sandhu , retired colonel. SS Sandhu was in Chandigarh when the news came.
Sandhu had floated Punarjyot, an NGO and used to hold Amritsar-Lahore festival besides indulging in various other social activities. He had also begun the conservation work of Sandhu Haveli at Narli village, where freedom fighter Shaheed Bhagat Singh used to stay during his visit to Lahore in Pakistan. Sandhu was also chairperson of the Amritsar zone of Confederation of Indian Industries and was also director of Khanna Paper Mills.
BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu and MLA Anil Joshi expressed grief.
