CHANDIGARH, Mar 23: Former Punjab Minister and AAP MLA Laljit Singh Bhullar, accused of abetting the suicide of a state warehousing corporation official, was arrested on Monday, said police.
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Bhullar was arrested from Mandi Gobindgarh in Fatehgarh Sahib district, a police official told reporters in Amritsar.
The police said Bhullar was being brought from Mandi Gobindgarh to Amritsar.
Bhullar will be produced in a court on Tuesday, said the police.
Gagandeep Singh Randhawa, the district manager of Punjab State Warehousing Corporation in Amritsar, allegedly ended his life by consuming poison early Saturday. A video appeared in which he purportedly claimed harassment by Bhullar, who resigned as Minister later in the day at the direction of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann amid the row.
The Amritsar police on Saturday night booked Bhullar, his father Sukhdev Singh Bhullar and personal assistant Dilbag Singh under Sections 108 (abetment of suicide), 351 (3) (criminal intimidation) and 3 (5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Meanwhile, Mann asserted that strict action will be taken irrespective of any position he holds if anyone violates the law.
“For me, entire Punjab is one family. If anyone in Punjab violates the law, strict action will be taken against him, no matter what position he holds or whether he is a relative or an influential person. Protecting anyone is not our party’s agenda,” said Mann in a post on X.
Bhullar, however, said he was surrendering in Mandi Gobindgarh and also dismissed rumours that he had run away.
“Rumours were being spread that I had run away; there is no truth to it. I will never run from the truth.
“I have full faith in the law of the country and also have unshakable faith in the justice system. I have not run away anywhere, I am in my Punjab. Believing in truth and justice, I am surrendering myself at Mandi Gobindgarh,” Bhullar said in a Facebook post.
Earlier in the day, Randhawa’s family issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the Punjab Government to arrest him.
Randhawa’s family had said that they would not allow a post-mortem examination and cremation until Bhullar was arrested.
Speaking to the media in Amritsar earlier on Monday, Randhawa’s family expressed displeasure over Bhullar not being arrested and demanded that he be arrested at the earliest.
“It is my ultimatum that if nothing is done within 24 hours, then I, along with my children (two daughters and a son), will come on the roads,” said Randhawa’s wife Upinder Kaur, who is a science teacher. (PTI)
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