Two days after the Congress candidate for Shahkot bypoll Hardev Singh laddi was booked by the Punjab Police in a mining case, the Punjab Government and the Opposition on Monday found themselves at loggerheads.
Even as the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh claimed that booking laddi was an aftermath of “political conspiracy” while hinting at the leader of Opposition in Vidhan Sabha Sukhpal Singh Khaira and the senior SAD leader Daljit Singh Cheema, the two alleged tapping of their phones by the government.
Unraveling the controversy without saying much, Capt Amarinder alleged that the SHO went on to register a case against Congress candidate to avenge his transfer from Kapurthala by the former Minister Rana Gurjeet Singh on moral grounds. Capt Amarinder further disclosed that he SHO, before registering the case against laddi at 4:30 am, had talked to Khaira at 11:30 pm following which he was spotted at a hotel at around 2:30 am. “At 6:30 am, he talked to Cheema,” said Capt Amarinder hinting at the possible conspiracy hatched by the opposition.
“SHO had been in touch with Sukhpal Khaira and SAD’s Daljit Cheema,” he said adding that the FIR against laddi appeared to be a fallout of the same.
Capt Amarinder pointed out that the Election Commission has just asked the police to look into the complaint of illegal mining against laddi and not to register the case. “But the SHO, acted in an unprecedented haste, in registering the FIR. He was showing anger against Rana Gurjeet,” he said.
He maintained that in the wake of imposition of model code of conduct, he a not in a position to order an inquiry. “But, we want the election panel to take serious cognizance of the same, and request them to probe into what sequences of events have led to registration of case in such a hasty way against the Congress candidate,” he added.
Capt Amarinder maintained that the Election Commission may hand over the probe to any agency — be it the Punjab police or any other agency.
ISSUE OF PHONE TAPPING RINGS AGAIN
Sending alarm bells ringing, AAP MlA Sukhpal Khaira and SAD’s former minister Daljeet Singh Cheema on Monday alleged that the Congress led Punjab government has been eavesdropping on them.
Describing the allegations as a “clever ploy” by Capt Amarinder “to deflect serious allegations of illegal mining against laddi”, Khaira alleged that Capt Amarinder and his police are tapping the phones of opposition leaders, “which is gross violation of our privacy and a big offence on the part of government”. He sought clarification from the CM if he has ordered tapping of their phones.
Cheema, accusing the government of outraging against the Constitution which guarantees right to privacy to all citizens of India, called upon the Election Commission of India to take suo motu notice of the “government indulging in tapping of phones of political personages especially when a poll process is on which amounts to a brazen misuse of government machinery during the electoral process and the EC should immediately step in to stop it”.
Notably, in India, any individual, firm or agency is barred from tapping any private or public phone without license and proper official documents.
KHAIRA, CHEEMA AGREES TO HAVE TAlKED TO SHO
As the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh is indicating at the “political conspiracy” planned by Khaira and Cheema to book the Congress leader in a mining case, both the leaders have agreed to have talked to the said SHO. Cheema challenged the Chief Minister to make public all the call details of Shahkot SHO Parminder Singh Bajwa covering the calls made by and to him since the announcement of the by-poll process.
OFFICERS UNDER OPP’S INFlUENCE, ADMITS CM
Shocking it may sound, but the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has maintained that some of the officers are working under the opposition’s influence — at least as far as the Shahkot mining case is concerned. Chief Minister said that he was looking into it.
Capt Amarinder, while responding to a media query, admitted that some of the officers, from both civil and police administration, are working under the influence of the opposition. And the next minute, he asserted that “not all”.