Chandigarh, Mar 23 (PTI) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia on Monday slammed the AAP government for taking two days to arrest former Punjab minister Laljit Singh Bhullar, who has been accused of abetting the suicide of a state warehousing corporation official.
He alleged that the Bhagwant Mann government did its best to shield Bhullar but had to give in to the resistance by the official’s family.
Gagandeep Singh Randhawa, the district manager of Punjab State Warehousing Corporation in Amritsar, allegedly ended his life by consuming poison early Saturday.
The same day, a video appeared in which he purportedly claimed harassment by Laljit Singh Bhullar.
Bhullar resigned as minister later in the day at the direction of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann amid the row.
The three-time AAP MLA from Patti was arrested on Monday.
Majithia said Bhullar should have been arrested immediately following Randhawa’s death.
The former Punjab minister also demanded that Randhawa’s post-mortem be conducted by a panel of doctors from either PGIMER or AIIMS to ensure fair play.
Speaking to the media here, Majithia thanked all opposition leaders, as well as farmers’ outfits and the warehousing corporation union, for raising their voice for Bhullar’s arrest.
He praised Randhawa’s family for “withstanding intense pressure” from the Aam Aadmi Party in its quest to seek justice.
Majithia alleged that there is also a larger case of “rampant corruption” committed by Bhullar and Aam Aadmi Party functionaries.
“The role of the Amritsar deputy commissioner, as well as the managing director of the warehousing corporation, and the chief secretary, who did not pay any heed to the repeated pleas of the officer, should also be probed. This is why a CBI probe is essential,” he said.
“The government has been protecting Bhullar since March 21. First, the FIR in the case was not registered for 24 hours. After this, the government did not move to either arrest the minister or forward his resignation to the governor. Only after it was cornered on all fronts did it decide to arrest the minister today,” the Akali leader added. PTI CHS VN VN
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