Cong govt indulging in vendetta politics after failing to link top SAD leadership in sacrilege cases as well as divert attention from failure in taking action against sacrilege incidents at Sri Darbar Sahib – SAD

Cong govt indulging in vendetta politics after failing to link top SAD leadership in sacrilege cases as well as divert attention from failure in taking action against sacrilege incidents at Sri Darbar Sahib – SAD

(Condemns false case registered against Bikram Majithia, asks govt how report of STF lying in sealed envelope in high court had become part of FIR)

(Demands report of ACS and DGP which superseded report of STF be made public imm)

(Says SAD will expose Cong both politically and legally)

Chandigarh, December 21 – The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today said the Congress government was indulging in vendetta politics by registering a false case against former minister Bikram Singh Majithia after failing to implicate the top Akali leadership in sacrilege cases as well as to divert attention from its failure in taking action in the case of heinous incidents of sacrilege at Sri Darbar Sahib in Amritsar.

Addressing a press conference here, senior leaders Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra, Maheshinder Singh Grewal and Dr Daljit Singh Cheema said “Punjab wants peace and communal harmony. Instead of ensuring this and exposing the conspirators behind the ghastly cases of sacrilege, the Congress government has chosen to file a fabricated case against Mr Bikram Majithia after throwing all principles of law and justice to the winds. We condemn this crude attempt by the Congress government to take the law in its own hands by becoming both the ‘thanedar’ and the judge and will expose all those involved both politically and legally”.

Asserting that the case was registered against Mr Majithia in utter frustration after all attempts to make some charge stick against the top SAD leadership in cases of sacrilege failed;  Maheshinder Grewal said the FIR in the case had exposed the Congress government more than anything else. He said the FIR related to an incident which had occurred in 2004 during a time when the Congress party was in power in the State. “Moreover the entire report of the STF headed by Mr Harpreet Sidhu has been reproduced in the FIR. The Congress government must tell how it has reproduced a report which is lying in a sealed envelope in the high court in the FIR registered against Mr Majithia”. Mr Grewal also asked the State government to disclose the contents of the report of the two member committee of the ACS and the State DGP which superseded the report of the STF and was also lying in a sealed envelope in the high court.

Meanwhile Mr Grewal also exposed the procedure used to register the case against Mr Majithia. He said earlier the DGP had marked the complaint to the Patiala SSP who had written a three page dissent note telling why no case could be registered against Mr Majithia before proceeding on leave. He said following this attempts were made to register the case at Rajpura but this also failed. “Then the new DGP – S Chattopadhyay ordered registration of the case in the State crime branch which is an extraordinary measure which is never followed in police investigation”.

Mr Grewal also rubbished the contentions in the FIR saying the case involving drug lord Jagdish Bhola had already been tried and convictions had been given in the case three years back. He said a re-investigation could not be done on a case which had already been decided by the courts unless a superior court reopened the case which was not so.

Prof Chandumajra while speaking on the subject warned the Congress party that such vendetta never paid off. He said while chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi was under pressure from Pradesh Congress President Navjot Sidhu to implicate Mr Majithia in a false case, he would also be held liable for this illegality. He said earlier also the Congress party had targeted the ‘Guru Granth’ and the Guru Panth’ to hide its failures. “Now again it is doing the same. It seems the Congress party wants to spoil the atmosphere in the State and this is why it did not investigate the desecration of the Gutka Sahib at Sri Darbar Sahib even after the culprit was caught and handed over to the police”.

Dr Cheema spoke on how an ad-hoc DGP – S Chattopadhyay was appointed for a few days to file the vendetta case against Mr Majithia. “It is common knowledge that Mr Chattopadhyay is not even empanelled for appointment as a regular DGP but he was appointed nevertheless to execute this FIR”. He said earlier also police officers were offered out of turn promotions and even cash to register the FIR against Mr Majithia but most conscientious officers refused to become party to this crime. Dr Cheema urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to appoint a regular DGP in the State. He said the SAD would also bring the latest case of political vendetta to the notice of the ECI and ask it to intervene and set things right.