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Punjab CM rejects CBI probe in official’s suicide, reassigns Bhullar’s portfolios
Asserting the Punjab Police’s capability to ensure a fair investigation, chief minister Bhagwant Mann says a chief secretary-level committee will also look into the case.
Rejecting the opposition’s demands for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe, chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday asserted that the Punjab Police is fully capable of investigating the alleged suicide of a state warehousing official. The case, which has triggered a political row, involves serious allegations of harassment against former cabinet minister and Patti AAP MLA Laljit Singh Bhullar.
Following Bhullar’s exit from the cabinet, finance and taxation minister Harpal Singh Cheema has been allocated the transport portfolio, while Dr Ravjot Singh, the parliamentary affairs minister, has been handed the jails department.
Bhullar was arrested on Monday following the death of Gagandeep Singh Randhawa, the Amritsar district manager of the Punjab State Warehousing Corporation, on Saturday. Randhawa allegedly died by suicide after consuming poison, leaving behind accusations of harassment against Bhullar.
Addressing the media in Chandigarh, chief minister Mann dismissed calls for the Centre’s intervention, expressing confidence in the state’s law enforcement.
“We will conduct an investigation... the probe will be conducted in a proper manner. Punjab Police is capable of carrying out the investigation,” Mann said. He revealed that a high-powered, chief secretary-level committee will probe the incident, adding, “If the involvement of any further conspirator is discovered, they will also be arrested.”
The Amritsar police have already booked Bhullar, his father Sukhdev Singh Bhullar, and his personal assistant Dilbag Singh. The charges include Sections 108 (abetment of suicide), 351 (3) (criminal intimidation), and 3 (5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Mann emphasised his government’s zero-tolerance stance, noting that Bhullar had already resigned and been arrested. “We do not try to shield anyone. For me, Punjab is one family,” he said, reiterating that strict action will be taken against lawbreakers regardless of their political stature.
The issue resonated in the Lok Sabha on Monday when Amritsar Congress MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla raised the matter during Zero Hour, cornering the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab. Intercepting Union home minister Amit Shah as he was leaving the House, Aujla alleged that harassment by Bhullar had driven the official to suicide.
Shah expressed his readiness to transfer the investigation to the central agency, stating, “This is a matter of the Punjab state. I request all the MPs from Punjab to write to me formally that the case be transferred to the CBI. I will do it immediately.”
Following this assurance, five MPs from Punjab—including four from the Congress (former CM Charanjit Singh Channi, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Aujla, and Dr Dharamvira Gandhi) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal—submitted formal letters to Shah pressing for an independent, time-bound CBI inquiry free from local political influence.
