Chandigarh: The Punjab police have arrested Surinder Singh Kamboj, the ‘estranged’ father of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Jagdeep Goldy Kamboj in connection with an extortion case. The MLA from Jalalabad, Kamboj told reporters Friday that the law is the same for all and that nobody, including his father, could be allowed to indulge in illegal activities in his assembly constituency.
Kamboj had left the Congress to join the AAP ahead of the 2022 Punjab elections and was elected from Jalalabad where he defeated Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal. Jalalabad was the pocket borough of the Badals.
In multiple TV interviews Friday, Goldy Kamboj said that for the AAP, everyone was equal before law and that he had been living separately from his father for many years and had no idea of his activities. “I got a call last night from someone about the incident and I told the callers that a complaint should be given and an FIR lodged,” said Kamboj.
SAD leader Maheshinder Singh Grewal, however, said that Goldy Kamboj “cannot get away by claiming that he is estranged from his father” and if this was the case, “Surinder Kamboj could not have presided over the Republic Day function at Fazilka this year”.
On Friday, the SAD also issued a press statement demanding the arrest of Jagdeep Goldy Kamboj, alleging that he was “involved in extortion in a flesh trade case along with his father Surinder Kamboj”.
Case against Surinder Kamboj
According to the police, 67-year-old Surinder Kamboj was booked Friday along with three others on the complaint of Jalalabad resident Sunil Kumar, a property dealer.
The FIR, a copy of which is with ThePrint, says Jalalabad resident Rano Bai called up complainant Sunil Kumar Thursday and told him that she wanted to buy a house. In his complaint, Kumar says he went to show Rano Bai a suitable property, including one of his own homes which was up for sale.
Kumar told the police that it took him “two minutes” to show Rano Bai the property after which the two returned to their respective homes.
The FIR adds that later that day, Kumar got a call from Rano Bai during which she told him that her son Sunil Rai and daughter-in-law had been beating her on the pretext that Kumar had ‘taken advantage of her’.
Later that evening, Rano Bai’s daughter-in-law called Kumar and asked him if he was a property dealer or a rapist. According to the FIR, soon after that, Surinder Singh Kamboj called the complainant Kumar and informed him that Rano Bai had reached the Jalalabad civil hospital to register a rape case against him and that Kamboj could get him out of this situation.
The complainant, fearing the registration of a rape case against him, met Kamboj who, according to the FIR, demanded a sum of Rs 10 lakh to settle the matter. Kumar said he then returned home and had even gathered some of his savings before he decided to approach the police.
Surinder Singh Kamboj was booked in 2017 by Chandigarh police for allegedly trying to hire a sex worker for a policeman in exchange for the latter’s help in settling cases of cheating pending against him, including one where the AAP MLA’s father was accused of duping a petrol pump owner and another concerning the sale and purchase of narcotics.
Following his arrest in the prostitution case, the Chandigarh police also found that Surinder Singh Kamboj was allegedly involved in the trade of stolen cars. Jagdeep Kamboj and a then student of the Panjab University were also arrested in connection with a car theft case involving the father.
Surinder Singh Kamboj is a former chairperson of the Agriculture Development Bank Jalalabad.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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