New Delhi [India], March 22 : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla on Sunday accused the Aam Aadmi Party of "corruption and crime" in Punjab over the Punjab Warehousing Corporation (PWC) offiicial's suicide case in Amritsar, alleging a minister's role in coercing the official.
He claimed evidence exists and demanded a fair probe, questioning Bhagwant Mann and Arvind Kejriwal.
Speaking to ANI, Poonawalla said the officer was "tortured and harassed" after he refused to illegally award a tender to the minister's kin.
"The PAAP Party, after doing 'Corruption Ka Paap' in Delhi, now they are doing 'Corruption and Crime Ka Paap' in Punjab and the manner in which their own minister, has been named by an officer of the Punjab government. The District Manager of the warehousing corporation said that he was forced to give the tender illegally to the minister's relative or aide. When he refused to do so, he was tortured, harassed, and he committed suicide, and there is a dying declaration, a video that he has made," he said.
BJP national spokesperson added, "Now, despite this evidence, Bhagwant Mann and Arvind Kejriwal are saving this minister because he has a very close relation with Arvind Kejriwal, and therefore, they have just taken his resignation for a period of one or two months cosmetically, but they are not allowing for a free and fair probe. They are not allowing for an FIR against him. They are not allowing for his arrest. They are ensuring that all the evidence is destroyed. We need a free and fair impartial probe. Nobody has faith in the Punjab government probe, and therefore Bhagwanth Maan and Kejriwal should answer why they are protecting him."
Meanwhile, the Punjab Police have registered a First Information Report (FIR) in connection with the case, naming former Cabinet Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar among the accused.
Bhullar's father, Sukhdev Singh Bhullar, and his PA, Dilbagh Singh have also been booked in the case, they said.
The FIR, lodged at Ranjit Avenue Police Station on the complaint of the deceased's wife Upinder Kaur, also names Bhullar's father Sukhdev Singh Bhullar and his personal assistant Dilbagh Singh, as accused.
According to the FIR, "In connection with the suicide of Gagandeep Singh Randhawa, the District Manager of the Punjab Warehouse Corporation in Amritsar, the police have registered an FIR at the Ranjit Avenue Police Station. This FIR was lodged based on a complaint filed by the deceased's wife, Upinder Kaur. In this matter, the police have named Cabinet Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar, his father Sukhdev Singh Bhullar, and his PA, Dilbagh Singh (alias Bagga), as accused."
The FIR alleges that the deceased officer was being subjected to constant pressure. The police have registered the case under Sections 108, 351(3), and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and have initiated an investigation.
The development comes a day after Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann accepted Laljit Singh Bhullar's resignation as Transport Minister following a political controversy surrounding the incident.
As per the Chief Minister's Office, Mann has directed the Chief Secretary to conduct an impartial inquiry into the matter, asserting that "no negligence of any kind will be tolerated."