Punjab govt to face heat in winter session as ED set to quiz Majithia
Monday, 22/12/2014
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JALANDHAR: After dragging its feet for the past three months, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has finally issued summons to Punjab revenue minister Bikram Singh Majithia in the multi-crore synthetic drug racket, kicking off a political storm. The tremors will not only be felt in Punjab — where the winter session of the assembly begins on Monday — but Delhi too, as Majithia is the brother-inlaw of deputy chief minister and Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal while his sister Harsimrat Kaur Badal is a Union cabinet minister.
The ED, which is under the Union finance ministry, sent the summons to Amritsar residence of the minister four days ago asking him to appear on December 26 in Jalandhar. The minister — who has said he would cooperate — will be asked to respond to a detailed questionnaire on his and his family’s income and assets, his foreign visits and alleged links with three accused drug dealers, NRIs Satpreet Satta, Parminder Pindi and Amarinder Laddi.
The agency is investigating the money laundering angle in the racket based on the statements of accused Jagdish Bhola and Amritsar businessman Jagjit Singh Chahal. Both have purportedly said in interrogation that the minister knew drug dealers based in Canada.
While Bhola named the minister as the “kingpin”, Chahal said Satta and Pindi were given two gunmen and a car by Majithia during their stay in Punjab. The two also claimed that Satta and Pindi were present at the wedding of the minister in November 2009.
The ED has filed an application in the special court seeking the remand of a third accused, Bittu Aulakh, whose statement was recorded by the agency in jail. A former Akali leader, Aulakh was the Majithia’s election agent in the 2012 assembly polls. The ED’s move has heightened the political temperature just before the winter session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha begins on Monday, giving the opposition Congress ammunition to
His family members have already been interrogated by the ED and they too have said that Bittu and Majithia were close and knew Satta.
Majithia had said on November 25 that he met many NRIs as a public figure but could not be assumed to be an accomplice in their actions.
PHILLAUR EXAMPLE, A HOSTILE BJP
put the SAD-BJP coalition on the defensive.
“The coalition has lost the moral grounds to remain in power. We demand that the entire Punjab government step down. What is the legitimacy of this government whose ministers are being summoned for patronising the drug mafia?” leader of opposition in the Punjab assembly Sunil Jakhar said.
Asking CM Parkash Singh Badal to have the same rules for all his cabinet colleagues, Punjab Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa said Sarwan Singh Phillaur had resigned as minister in June when his son was summoned by the ED. “On what grounds will Badal save Majithia? If he continues to be a minister, no free or independent probe can be expected given the enormous political clout that he enjoys within the state apparatus and the fact that his sister is a Union minister,” Bajwa further said.
Amid its relations with ally SAD already soured, the Punjab BJP too has gone for the kill. Its state president Kamal Sharma said the minister should resign to face investigation.
Invoking examples of former BJP national president LK Advani as well as of Phillaur, Shar ma added, “If proved innocent, Majithia can again be appointed a minister.”
BRAZEN BADAL
But CM Badal told mediapersons in Amritsar that a person could not be held guilty until the guilt was proven. “Summoning does not necessarily mean that he (Majithia) is guilty.
In the recent past, the ED had summoned former minister Sarwan Singh Phillaur and Jalandhar Congress MP Chaudhary Santokh Singh,” he underlined. The CM, however, advised Majithia to appear before Enforcement Directorate and answer whatever they ask him.
