Chandigarh, Mar 24 (PTI) Former Punjab minister Laljit Singh Bhullar, arrested in connection with the suicide of an official of the warehousing corporation, was sent to a five-day police remand on Tuesday.
Bhullar was produced before a court in Amritsar on Tuesday, amid tight security arrangements. Wearing a green turban, Bhullar could be seen with folded hands while coming out of the court.
A police official said the court granted a five-day police remand of Bhullar. Several supporters of Bhullar were also present outside the court.
Bhullar was accused of abetting the suicide of Gagandeep Singh Randhawa, the state warehousing corporation official.
The former minister was arrested from Mandi Gobindgarh in Fatehgarh Sahib district on Monday, two days after Randhawa’s suicide. After his arrest, Bhullar was brought to Amritsar on Monday evening.
Randhawa, the district manager of Punjab State Warehousing Corporation in Amritsar, allegedly died by suicide by consuming poison early Saturday.
A video surfaced on social media in which he purportedly claimed harassment by Bhullar, who resigned as minister later in the day at the direction of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann amid the row.
The Amritsar police on Saturday night booked Bhullar, his father Sukhdev Singh Bhullar and personal assistant Dilbag Singh under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 108 (abetment of suicide), 351 (3) (criminal intimidation) and 3 (5) (common intention).
Randhawa’s cremation took place on Tuesday after a post-mortem examination by a board of doctors at the government medical college.
“Kha layi ‘celphos’ tuhade yaar ne. Minister Laljit Bhullar de dar ton. Hun nahi main bachda,” (Your friend has consumed celphos because of fear of minister Laljit Bhullar. I will not survive now),” Randhawa had said in the video.
In her complaint lodged with the police, Randhawa’s wife, Upinder Kaur, claimed that her husband was constantly pressurised to allot a warehouse tender to Bhullar’s father and had even threatened to harm him and his family.
Bhullar, his father Sukhdev Singh Bhullar and his PA Dilbagh Singh allegedly threatened that if the tender was not approved in the name of Sukhdev, then Randhawa and his family would have to face consequences, the complainant had said.
According to the FIR, Randhawa was called to Bhullar’s residence on March 13 in Patti, where he was allegedly humiliated and assaulted.
Randhawa, at gunpoint, was forced to admit that he took Rs 10 lakh for allotting the warehouse tender to another party, Kaur had alleged in her complaint.
Bhullar, the MLA from Patti in Tarn Taran, rejected the allegations against him as baseless. PTI CHS OZ OZ
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.