Punjab BJP vice-president Subhash Sharma has written to Union Minister for External Affairs S. Jaishankar, urging him to take up the case of Nangal youth Gurpreet Singh, alias Babbi, with the Saudi government.He said that since Gurpreet Singh was the only son of his ailing mother, her mercy petition to the Saudi government should be taken up by the Union government.Gurpreet Singh’s mother has also written to the Saudi King, seeking mercy for her only son and requesting that his life be spared.Meanwhile, no help appears to be forthcoming for Gurpreet Singh from the Punjab government. He has been sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia in a narcotics case, and his family is making desperate appeals to the Punjab and central governments for intervention.Gurpreet’s mother, Jaswant Kaur, has sought the intervention of Punjab Cabinet Minister Harjot Singh Bains, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to secure commutation of the death sentence and bring her only son back to India.The family had approached Bains, seeking that the Punjab government take up the matter with the Union government and seek a mercy plea through diplomatic channels. However, there has been no indication so far as to whether the state government will write to the Centre in the matter.The family also approached philanthropist SPS Oberoi, who has helped several Indians facing death sentences in Gulf and other Middle Eastern countries. Oberoi, however, declined to take up Gurpreet’s case.“I had inquired about the case when the family approached me and found that the youth was facing serious drug-smuggling charges. I do not take up cases involving drugs or rape,” Oberoi told The Tribune.Gurpreet, son of the late Jarnail Singh, had gone abroad around four years ago in search of a livelihood. According to his mother, his father had died, and Gurpreet was her only son, leaving her dependent on him.According to the family and villagers, Gurpreet was working as a truck driver and travelled between Muscat and Saudi Arabia. Around two years ago, narcotic substances were allegedly recovered from the truck in which he was travelling, following which a drug-smuggling case was registered against him. He remained in jail for nearly two years before being sentenced to death.The family, however, maintains that Gurpreet is innocent and alleges that the narcotics were deliberately placed in his truck to implicate him. They have appealed to the authorities to examine all legal and diplomatic avenues available to secure relief for him.For the residents of Patti Lower, the case has become a race against time, with the family looking to the governments for intervention while Gurpreet remains in a Saudi Arabian jail.