Two days after Punjab education officer Vinod Kumar, facing inquiry for his involvement in the book scam, committed suicide, the State Congress on Thursday demanded a registration of case for abetment to suicide against Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Education Minister Sikander Singh Maluka, and Justice (retired) AN Jindal, who is heading the inquiry panel.
The party has also demanded Maluka’s ‘immediate’ dismissal, besides rejecting the Justice Jindal report and reiterating its stand of a probe by Central Bureau of Investigation into the book scam.
“Maluka should be dismissed for his moral culpability in the suicide committed by Vinod Kumar, one of the prime accused in the infamous school textbook scam…he was said to be under mental stress following his indictment along with two others by Jindal Commission constituted to go into the book scam, exposed by the then Director General of School Education KS Pannu considered to be an upright bureaucrat,” said Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Partap Singh Bajwa.
Kumar (57), prime accused in book scam, committed suicide on Tuesday afternoon by jumping into Sukhna lake. Deputy director in the state school education department, Kumar had been suspended in July last year for his alleged involvement in misappropriating central funds while buying textbooks for students in government schools, but was re-instated about two months ago as deputy director (vocational).
He was also the member of three-member purchase committee constituted by Maluka for the purchase of textbooks and science kits for schools under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. The Jindal Commission had indicted the purchase committee members while exonerating the Minister.
Posing some question to the Education Minister, Bajwa asked, “Was Vinod Kumar not handpicked by him to be part of the committeeIJ As the purchase committee was constituted by him bypassing procedures, was he not responsible for the irregularities that surfaced in the purchase of textbooks and science kitsIJ”
He asked whether the deceased try to shift blame on the minister by writing to the DGSE that constituting the committee was solely the decision of the Education MinisterIJ
“Did the suppliers were selected by the committee on the direction of the political bossesIJ It is apparent that Vinod Kumar was under mental stress which he could not cope with as the real culprit had been let off the hook,” said Bajwa.
Asking CM to “act” as he could not go on shielding his ministers who had come under the grey area like this, the State Congress chief demanded that Jindal Commission report should also be made public as keeping it secret would raise questions about the intentions of the Badal Government.
On the other hand, another Congressman Sukhpal Singh Khaira, rejecting Justice Jindal report, alleged that by “manipulating Justice Jindal to give a clean chit to his blue eyed Minister Maluka and making scapegoats of three officers, Badal stands squarely responsible for the death of Vinod Kumar”.
Questioning Justice Jindal’s rational for giving clean chit to Maluka, Khaira said that Congress is of the firm opinion that it is the Badal-Maluka-Jindal troika that has taken Vinod Kumar’s life, and “they should be booked for abetment to suicide”.
The constant tug of war for power between Capt Amarinder and Bajwa is not unknown. At the time when Capt Amarinder Singh was the state party chief, Bajwa continuously tried to pull him down by one way or another. Similarly, now when Bajwa is at the helm of party affairs, Capt Amarinder is leaving no stone unturned to prove that choosing Bajwa for replacing him was a wrong decision.