SAD demand independent probe into cash of transfer accusation against home minister Sukhjinder Randhawa by cabinet colleague Rana Gurjeet Singh
(Bikram S Majithia says it is shocking that instead of ordering a probe into the matter, CM Channi was trying to hush-up the scam)
(Says Cong govt was playing with national security by posting police officers on the borders after taking kickbacks)
Chandigarh, December 10 – The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today demanded an independent probe into the cash for transfers allegations made by cabinet minister Rana Gurjeet Singh against home minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa even as it asked chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi to explain why he was trying to hush up this criminal act.
Addressing a press conference here, former minister Bikram Singh Majithia said “it is shocking that cabinet minister Rana Gurjeet Singh accused the home minister of pocketing bribes from police officers to give them prized postings as Senior Superintendents of Police, Superintendents of Police and even Deputy Superintendents of Police. The accusation is that Sukhjinder Randhawa pocketed as much as Rs 2 crore to Rs five crore for posting of SSPs. The same accusations were made earlier also in case of posting of Commissioners of Police. Now the entire racket has been laid bare by one of the senior most cabinet ministers”.
Majithia said it was equally shocking that instead of ordering a probe into the entire matter, chief minister Charanjit Channi was trying to hush-up the matter. He said the chief minister went to the extent of asking the officers present in the cabinet meeting to leave the room and even ordered closure of the doors of the meeting room. “Later the chief minister even held a dinner party to lay the case to rest which itself indicates that a deal has been done to bury the acts of corruption and omission”.
Asserting that the Congress government was not only indulging in corruption by indulging in the cash of transfers scam, Mr Majitha said “this government is also playing with national security”. He said the Punjab police was the second line of defense along the border and if it started posting officers to sensitive posts after receiving kickbacks the entire nation’s security would be compromised. He said it was also condemnable that on one hand the government was demanding strengthening of the border by increasing the strength of the Border Security Force (BSF) but on the other was taking money for postings on the border.
Mr Majithia also highlighted how home Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa, who had earlier patronized gangsters as the Jails minister, had politicized the police force completely. “The chief minister asked Minister Raziya Sultana if the SSP in her district had been posted at her instance and she replied in the affirmative proving that meritocracy has been laid to rest in the present regime”.
When queried Majithia even disclosed that an intelligence input had been received by the State police that he was being targeted by the home minister refused to take the required action in the matter. “This despite the fact that the persons who conducted a reccee of my residence were nabbed with a pistol, tiffin bomb and a hand grenade and linked to a KTF module”.
Meanwhile Majithia said nepotism had touched such heights that all police officers who had been changed after 120 persons were killed in the hooch tragedy in Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts, were back at their old posts. He said similarly ASI Sarabjit Singh, who was accused of selling ENA in Rajpura, had been reposted to Rajpura.
The Akali leader said Punjabis were not safe in the hands of a home minister who was known to patronize gangsters including Jaggu Bhagwanpuria and Lawrence Bishnoi besides according a VIP status to notorious don Mukhtiar Ansari during his tenure as Jails minister. He said this issue should be probed by the CBI or NIA even as he said an independent probe would reveal that it was Randhawa who had recommended the appointment of Sikhs for Justice leader Avtar Singh Pannu’s brother as the Chairman of Punjab Genco.
