E-Paper
Ulterior motives behind arrest of my father: Sukhpal Khaira’s son
In a statement, Sukhpal Khaira’s son Mehtab Kahira denied any wrongdoing or any sort of criminal activity by his father as being alleged by the central investigating agency
Former MLA Sukhpal Khaira’s son Mehtab Khaira on Saturday said the arrest of his father by Enforcement Directorate (ED) is illegal, unconstitutional and has been done with an ulterior motive, especially when the state assembly elections are near.
In a statement, Mehtab denied any wrongdoing or any sort of criminal activity by his father as being alleged by the central investigating agency.
“My father has been a whistleblower and a crusader for the people of Punjab his entire life. He is being wrongly and maliciously implicated in a 6-year-old drugs case registered at Jalalabad. The said FIR named nine people and Sukhpal Khaira was neither named in the FIR nor was he charge-sheeted in the said case,” he said.
Mehtab said his father was elected as Leader of Opposition (LoP) in 2017, and he had raked up the sand mining scam which eventually led to the resignation of the then cabinet minister. “Suddenly two prosecution witnesses, who had already been examined and cross-examined were recalled under Section 311 of CrPC,” he said.
Why these two (police) witnesses remained silent for two years and never mentioned the role of Khaira remains a mystery, he said.
