A day after Punjab Advocate-General Ashok Aggarwal submitted before the Punjab and Haryana High Court that politicians, bureaucrats and senior police officers were involved in the trade of illegal mining, the State Congress on Wednesday dared him to “divulge their names.”
Aggarwal, during the hearing of a public interest litigation, has admitted before the High Court that powerful politicians, bureaucrats and senior police officers were deeply involved in the illegal mining racket worth crores in the State.
“These revelations of the Advocate General vindicate our oft repeated allegations of a deep nexus between powerful politicians-official machinery and the mafia,” said Congress leader Sukhpal Khaira. The party maintained that in case the AG failed to disclose the names, “it would be presumed that even the constitutional office of AG is not free from political pressure”.
Petitioner in the matter, Gurbir Singh Pannu, has alleged a loss of Rs 10,000 crore to the public exchequer annually, on account of illegal mining by different type of mafia.