Chandigarh, June 7 (IANS) The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Tuesday said there was a grave threat to the life of former minister Bikram Singh Majithia and that there was every likelihood of him being implicated in another false case at the behest of AGDP Harpreet Sidhu who had been entrusted with the additional charge of prisons to settle political and personal scores.
Addressing a press conference here to highlight the letter written by Majithia's wife and Majitha legislator Ganieve Kaur Majithia to the DGP along with a copy to chief minister Bhagwant Mann, senior SAD leaders Maheshinder Singh Grewal and Daljit Singh Cheema demanded the immediate removal of Sidhu from the additional charge of the ADGP, Prisons, besides taking other necessary action in the case.
The leaders said there were grave apprehensions in the minds of the family of Majithia as well as that of the SAD that Sidhu had been posted as the ADGP Prisons with the motive of planting something on the former minister.
They said even though Sidhu was a most 'incompetent' police officer he was used by successive governments to settle scores with Majithia and that he had been posted as the ADGP, Prisons, with the same goal by the AAP government.
The SAD leaders said there was a severe animosity between the families of Majithia and Sidhu.
They said Sidhu was closely related to Majithia as the police officer's mother and the paternal aunt of Majithia were real sisters. "There has been bad blood between the families for generations with Sidhu's family blaming Majithia's family for the death of their aunt. This strained relationship and animosity was also withheld by Sidhu from the high court before he embarked upon conducting an inquiry on the alleged role of Majithia in a drug case."
Grewal and Cheema said when the high court did not proceed with the report of Sidhu, the latter maliciously handed over the report which was supposed to lie in a sealed envelope to Navjot Singh Sidhu, a politician who was inimical to Majithia.
The SAD leaders said towards the end of the term of the previous Congress government, Sidhu handed over his home cooked report to the DGP to register a false case under various sections of the NDPS Act against Majithia.
They said even after this, Sidhu kept interfering in the case and even wrote a letter to the AAP government on March 8 on which basis the SIT was reconstituted.
"Due to this Sidhu's dictat is treated as a command by the SIT which reports directly to him."
The arrested accused were identified as Gurpreet Singh, Amandeep Singh and Parminder Singh, residents of Vinjoke village in Zira, Ferozepur; and Bhupinder Singh of Bhatian village in Ludhiana.
Modi flew to Paris from Copenhagen, where he participated in the second India-Nordic Summit along with his counterparts Mette Frederiksen (Denmark), Katrin Jakobsdottir (Iceland), Jonas Gahr Store (Norway), Magdalena Andersson (Sweden) and Sanna Marin (Finland).
State Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak said the five-member team of Sandro Banal, Filippo Zunino, Stephanie Heard, Amit Wadhera and Shruti will be visiting Amritsar to take a first-hand assessment of how long term storage of wheat is undertaken in Punjab, without deterioration in its quality.
Apprising Mann about the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (IndAus ECTA), O'Farrell said it is the India's first bilateral trade agreement with a large, developed economy in 10 years, which aims to double two-way trade.
Addressing the media here, Badal appealed to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) President to take the lead and call a meeting of Panthic organisations to devise a joint strategy to fulfill the demand of Punjabis worldwide to free the Sikh prisoners on humanitarian grounds.
The Divisional Commissioner on Tuesday suspended Internet services in the entire Jodhpur district (including Jodhpur Commissionerate) with an aim to maintain peace and cordial atmosphere and curb rumours.
