Pannu attackers were calling Maluka's driver later: Bajwa

The people who attacked IAS officer Kahan Singh Pannu in Uttarakhand were that day in regular touch with education minister Sikander Singh Maluka through his driver, Punjab Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa has claimed on the basis of an "intelligence input".

The people who attacked IAS officer Kahan Singh Pannu in Uttarakhand were that day in regular touch with education minister Sikander Singh Maluka through his driver, Punjab Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa has claimed on the basis of an "intelligence input".

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The bureaucrat, now shunted from the education department, was attacked under a plan, that's why the state government sent him, instead of a disaster management officer, to the flood-ravaged state. "All calls of the accused that day have been traced to the mobile phone of Maluka's driver," Bajwa said here on Tuesday. "All accused are from Talwandi Sabo and associated with Balbir Singh Sidhu, whom Maluka had inducted into the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)," he added.

Reacting to SAD's dismissing his demand for judicial inquiry into the incident as political gimmick, Bajwa said: "Je eh vi gimmick hai, fer te Guru Mahraaj Saab hi bakshish karan ehna te (If this is also gimmick, may Guru Sahib give them good sense)."

"Badal can't annoy Maluka, for he is district president of the party in Bathinda and Harsimrat can't win without his support. Badal de gall rassa piya. Chadd oh skda ni. Usdi majboori hai (CM has noose around his neck. He can't remove it; he is helpless).