Punjab Assembly Speaker seeks DGP report in ASI corruption case – ThePrint – PTIFeed

Chandigarh, Sep 2 (PTI) Punjab Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan on Monday sought a report from the state police chief in a case in which an assistant inspector allegedly accepted money from a gangster.

Sandhwan requested Gaurav Yadav to submit the report by Tuesday.

Sandhwan, who is an AAP MP representing Kotkapura assembly segment, said the ASI had allegedly received money from a gangster through a bank transfer.

Cabinet Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said the Speaker has all the powers to call for a report from any official and no approval of the House is required for this.

Giving details of the case, the chairman said that the FIR was registered against the ASI under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, based on the statement of the gangster.

He said that those who wanted to rescue the accused should also be exposed. He later got the approval of the House to seek the report, after which he directed the Director General of Police to submit a “complete report” by Tuesday.

Earlier, the chairman had asked party member and former IPS officer Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh what the punishment could be in such cases.

Singh, the Amritsar North MLA, said a transfer policy should be implemented to break the nexus. There are such people in police and other departments and they are openly challenging the system, he said.

“Who runs the system? Mafia plays the biggest role in running any government. Mafia controls every system,” the MLA said.

“The whole system is run by the mafia and if we violate the mafia rules, ‘Ram Rajya’ can come,” he added.

Congress MP Pargat Singh alleged that two to three policemen in every station in the state are “drug addicts”. He said he had earlier requested for a drug test to be conducted.

Senior Congress leader and opposition leader Partap Singh Bajwa said if the ASI had received money from the gangster, he should have been dismissed immediately and appropriate proceedings initiated against him.

Bajwa also raised the issue of an interview with gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and sought a report on this matter as well.

Bishnoi was interviewed by a private news channel last year when the gangster was in the custody of Punjab police in Mohali’s Kharar. Another interview was conducted in Rajasthan last year.

Finance Minister Cheema weighed in on the matter and said the Speaker has all the powers to call for a report from any official and therefore he is of the view that no approval of the House is required.

On the Bishnoi case, Cheema said the matter is sub-judice. Cabinet Minister Aman Arora suggested that a mechanism be set up in consultation with the Prime Minister to deal with cases where corruption has been found.

“If we take one example, it opens Pandora’s box. If we work with pick and choose, then politics just continues and nothing sensible happens,” he said.

Meanwhile, Congress MP Sukhpal Singh Khaira said he felt the chairman had a “personal interest” in the ASI or wanted to target his political opponents through him.

“This is a gross and blatant misuse of the important platform of Vidhan Sabha for personal whims and fancies,” Khaira said in a message on X. PTI CHS VSD TIR TIR

This report was automatically generated by PTI news service. ThePrint is not responsible for its content.