CHANDIGARH: The controversy over BJYM national secretary Tajinder Bagga’s arrest by Punjab Police has taken a fresh twist with BJP’s senior Sikh leader Manjinder Sirsa taking a barb at Mohali SSP Vivek Sheel Soni, a 2011-batch IPS, over his tenure in Ropar during Congress regime and subsequent posting in Mohali in AAP government.
“Is it just a coincidence that the SSP under whose nose rampant illegal mining took place for years in Ropar is now at the centre of illegal action against BJP leaders? In ED investigation in a sand mining case, role of many such officers need to be investigated
MORE EXPOSE SOON,” Sirsa tweeted early Sunday morning.
His comments have put the lens on Soni, who was serving as SSP of Ropar when raids by the Enforcement Directorate( ED) yielded the recovery of Rs 10 crore from Honey Singh, the nephew of then Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi in a case related to illegal mining.
Mining and drug scourge have been the bane of Punjab in the recent past where officers of Punjab Police have come under scrutiny.
Sirsa’s comments come a day after he had released an audio intercept on one Mohali DSP (detective) Kuljinder Singh who was leading the Punjab Police party to arrest Bagga.
In the sensational audio, one proclaimed offender (PO) Sarabjit is heard giving instructions to the then Punjab DGP Siddharth Chattopadhaya to post DSP Kuljinder in Mohali.
“Sarabjit gave instructions to the then Punjab DGP Siddharth Chattopadhaya to post DSP Kuljinder in Mohali. This “defaulter cop” Kuljinder who has links with criminals & is the one patronized by drug smugglers like Sarabjit was today used by AaP (sic) govt as its henchman,” Sirsa has said.
Sirsa had further said that DSP had even changed his name to hide his past but was working under a quid pro quo with the AAP government to arrest Bagga to protect his career amid the audio leak.
“changing the NAME doesn’t change the past & notorious actions of a person (sic)’. This KS Sandhu who came to pick @TajinderBagga today is the same notorious Kuljinder Singh with an ill-famed past,” Sirsa said.
In its recent postings, AAP has also twice changed the posting of a controversial Punjab Police Service (PPS) officer Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, now an IPS, by first removing him as Ludhiana commissioner of police, then posting him in the anti-gangster unit, then a fresh charge of DIG Ropar range under which Mohali SSP operates and Bagga’s case is being overseen.
Bhullar had come under scrutiny in the Ludhiana court complex terror attack in December 2021.
He had also courted controversy over the declaration of Rs 152 crore assets, saying he had inherited all of the properties from his ancestors.