E-Paper
5 Khemkaran Cong workers held in drug cases in 3 weeks
In what is being seen as an embarrassment to the ruling Congress, five party workers from the Khemkaran assembly constituency of Tarn Taran district were arrested
In what is being seen as an embarrassment to the ruling Congress, five party workers from the Khemkaran assembly constituency of Tarn Taran district were arrested in cases of drug peddling in the last three weeks.
On Saturday (August 31), Gurmej Singh, a three-time former sarpanch of Bhagwanpura village in Bhikhiwind sub-division, and his son Bachitar Singh were arrested for allegedly smuggling heroin and accumulating assets worth crores of rupees from drug business. The duo had been active workers of the Congress in the assembly segment.
“The duo had been with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) earlier and joined the Congress recently,” said Khemkaran MLA Sukhpal Singh Bhullar of the ruling party.
According to information, Gurmej was backed by the Congress till 2007 when he joined the SAD after it formed government in Punjab. He again joined Congress in 2017.
On August 25, the police arrested Congress workers Kulwant Singh and his brother Sawinder Singh of Balehar village with 1,200 intoxicating pills. The two run a chemist shop in Bhikhiwind.
MLA Bhullar acknowledged their association with the party. “It is the clear-cut policy of the Captain Amarinder Singh-led government in Punjab to take strict action against those involved in drug trade, cutting across the party lines,” he added.
On August 12, Chanan Singh Sandhu, a Congress worker of Marimegha village, was arrested by Amritsar police with 125gm heroin. Sandhu was recently made the chairman of the committee of Government Senior Secondary School, Marimegha.
Bhullar denied Chanan’s association with the Congress. “He worked with a vernacular newspaper,” he said.
On Monday, the police rounded up Congress’s Margindpura sarpanch Sartaj Singh suspecting him of having drug links but he was let off on Tuesday after being questioned. “We didn’t recover anything suspicious from him,” said Patti Sadar station house officer (SHO) Baljit Singh.
Sources, however, said he was let off after the police came under political pressure.
Sartaj, reportedly a close aide of MLA Bhullar, was also arrested in November 2017 by Amritsar police for allegedly looting two trucks of Basmati rice at gunpoint. He was also arrested in December 2018 by the Amritsar police for possessing unlicensed .12 bore riffle. He got bail in the two cases and was elected sarpanch unopposed in the panchayat polls held in December last year.
