IPL in UAE: Suresh Raina breaks his silence after returning to India

Dubai: Chennai Super Kings vice-captain Suresh Raina on Tuesday finally broke his silence on the passing away of his uncle in Punjab terming the incident as "horrible".

Raina's uncle was killed in an alleged attack by robbers in the Pathankot district of Punjab.

The left-handed batsman also said that one of his cousins passed away on Monday after being attacked by the robbers.

"What happened to my family is Punjab was beyond horrible. My uncle was slaughtered to death, my bua & both my cousins had severe injuries. Unfortunately, my cousin also passed away last night after battling for life for days. My bua is still very very critical and is on life support," Raina tweeted.

"Till date, we don't know what exactly had happened that night & who did this. I request @PunjabPoliceInd to look into this matter. We at least deserve to know who did this heinous act to them. Those criminals should not be spared to commit more crimes. @capt_amarinder @CMOPb," Raina said in another tweet.

Responding to Raina's request, the Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) has set up a Special investigation Team (SIT) to probe the attack on the orders of Chief Minister Amrinder Singh, who is personally monitoring the case.

Though initial investigations suggest that the attack had the signature of criminals belonging to a de-notified criminal tribe, who are often seen to operate along the Punjab-Himachal border, the SIT has been mandated to examine all possible angles, according to DGP Dinkar Gupta.

Specialised teams from Organised Crime Control Unit have also been roped in to carry out a 24X7 probe into the case.

Last week, Raina had pulled out of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 due to personal reasons, triggering off speculations. While a Dubai-based close friend of Raina claimed that the cricketer was worried about his young children back home due to the surge in COVID-19 pandemic, there were media reports that his sudden exit was triggered by a feud with the team management over allocation of a hotel room.

"Suresh Raina has returned to India for personal reasons and will be unavailable for the remainder of the IPL season. Chennai Super Kings offers complete support to Suresh and his family during this time," CSK CEO KS Viswanathan was quoted as saying on the official Twitter handle of the franchise.

Will Raina be back then to join the CSK team after the dust settles down? Only time will tell!