Extortion network run from Punjab jails: BJP

Outlining the BJP’s five “sankalps” (promises) under the anti-drug campaign, Tarun Chugh said the party would seek to dismantle drug-peddling networks and their supply chains, rehabilitate drug victims and youth, turn the anti-drug drive into a wider social movement, and eliminate drug money and gangsterism from Punjab.

Rajya Sabha member and BJP national headquarters in-charge Tarun Chugh on Thursday alleged that an organised extortion network was operating from Punjab jails, with lawyers, doctors, businessmen, shopkeepers and farmers allegedly receiving threats from inmates. Linking the issue to drugs and gangsterism, he accused the AAP government of failing to check the menace.

Rajya Sabha member and BJP national headquarters in-charge Tarun Chugh during ‘Nasha Mukt Punjab Yatra’ , in Amritsar, on Thursday. (Sameer Sehgal//HT)

Addressing gatherings during the BJP’s Nasha Mukt Punjab Yatra in the Amritsar Central, South and East constituencies, Chugh alleged that the extortion network enjoyed political patronage, without providing specific evidence for the allegations.

Chugh also accused the state government of failing to control the drug menace, alleging that narcotics were being sold openly and that families across Punjab were losing young members to addiction. He said the deteriorating law-and-order situation was also reflected in attacks on police establishments and threats to police personnel.

Outlining the BJP’s five “sankalps” (promises) under the anti-drug campaign, Chugh said the party would seek to dismantle drug-peddling networks and their supply chains, rehabilitate drug victims and youth, turn the anti-drug drive into a wider social movement, and eliminate drug money and gangsterism from Punjab.

Delhi MLA and former Delhi BJP president Arvinder Singh Lovely said the yatra was focused on addressing the root causes of the drug crisis and creating public awareness.