Chandigarh, Mar 23 (PTI) The wife of a state employee who committed suicide allegedly due to harassment by ex-minister Laljit Singh Bhullar demanded a CBI probe into his death on Monday.
Gagandeep Singh Randhawa, the district manager of Punjab State Warehousing Corporation in Amritsar, allegedly ended his life by consuming poison on Saturday.
He recorded a video before his death, in which he purportedly claimed harassment by Bhullar, who resigned as minister later in the day at the direction of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
Randhawa’s wife also demanded that his post-mortem be conducted by a panel of doctors from the Chandigarh-based PGIMER under the supervision of a judicial magistrate.
The Amritsar police on Saturday night booked Bhullar, his father Sukhdev Singh Bhullar and personal assistant Dilbag Singh under sections 108 (abetment of suicide) and 351 (3) (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Bhullar was arrested on Monday in Mandi Gobindgarh in Fatehgarh Sahib district.
Speaking to the media in Amritsar, Randhawa’s wife, Upinder Kaur, who was accompanied by her daughter, demanded a CBI probe into the matter.
On Bhullar’s arrest, she said the family got some relief, and called on authorities to nab other people involved in her husband’s death.
She also wondered why Bhullar did not surrender to the police when the allegations first arose against him.
With the case turning fast into a political slugfest, Upinder Kaur, a science teacher, said the Amritsar police chief has given her an assurance of safety.
She earlier warned of going on a street protest if Bhullar is not arrested.
Meanwhile, an officer said the family is yet to hand over Randhawa’s mobile phone to the police and awaits legal counsel on it.
Bhullar was booked on Saturday night, along with his father, Sukhdev Singh Bhullar and personal assistant, Dilbag Singh, under sections 108 (abetment of suicide) and 351 (3) (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The police action came hours after the surfacing of a video in which Randhawa, who held the additional charge of Patti, was purportedly heard saying that he had eaten poison and accused the transport minister of harassment.
In her police complaint, Upinder Kaur claimed that her husband was under pressure to allot a warehouse tender to Bhullar’s father and was constantly threatened with violence.
According to the FIR, on March 13, Bhullar called Randhawa to his Patti residence and humiliated and assaulted him.
Upinder Kaur alleged that her husband was at gunpoint forced to admit that he took Rs 10 lakh for allotting the tender to another party.
Due to harassment, he ate poison at 5.50 am on Saturday and recorded a video on social media before his death, she said.
On Saturday, Mann said he had directed the chief secretary to conduct an impartial probe into the matter and asked the minister to step down for a fair probe. PTI CHS VN VN
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