A day after the Punjab Police accused State Congress leader Sukhpal Khaira of “forging” documents in connivance with a police sub-inspector to malign Revenue Minister Bikram Majithia’s reputation in hawala transactions, the opposition parties in the State on Thursday cautioned the powers that be for harassing the leader.
Punjab Police’s Inspector General of Police (counter-intelligence) Gaurav Yadav, in a detailed press statement on Wednesday, stated that a detailed inquiry has revealed that documents produced by Khaira during his press conferences in July this year to establish that Majithia was involved in hawala transactions were indeed “fudged and fabricated”, in connivance with SI Swarn Gandhi, who was earlier posted in the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
Cautioning the Punjab Police against any attempt to harass Khaira, the Punjab Congress president said that such nefarious designs would be opposed tooth and nail.
Refuting the allegations leveled against Khaira by the IG Yadav as “utterly malicious to scuttle his campaign against Majitha” in drug smuggling case, Bajwa alleged that the Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal was trying to stop him through police.
He asserted that law must be allowed to take its own course, adding that Khaira was known for exposing Sukhbir’s misdeeds.
“Khaira had challenged the State Government to order judicial probe by a sitting judge of the HC into his role and that of Majithia as this is the best solution under the given situation…It is a clear case of vendetta as it was Khaira who had approached the Apex Court in 2008 to shift trials of Badals outside Punjab. Yet, he had filed another case challenging the grant of lawrence School, Sanawar, by Sukhbir,” pointed Bajwa.
The State Congress chief made it clear that the Congress would stand like a rock behind every leader of the party and would never tolerate such attempts by the Badal Government to browbeat them.
His concern was supported by People’s Party of Punjab president Manpreet Badal who also strongly condemned Khaira’s harassment by the Punjab Police.
Terming the allegations against Khaira as “false and malicious”, Manpreet said: “The entire story has been concocted by the police. It is a clear case of authoritarian approach being resorted to in an attempt to crush democratic right of the people to expose the misdeeds of the Government.”
He dared CM Parkash Singh Badal to order judicial probe by a sitting judge of the HC into the drug menace in the State with reference to allegations against Majithia and the charges being leveled by the police against Khaira.
At the same time, Manpreet takes on Badal accusing him of maintaining double standards in case of Majithia’s alleged involvement in the multi-crore drug scam.