CHANDIGARH: The controversy surrounding allegations that Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s wife, Dr. Gurpreet Kaur demanded Rs 5 crore to settle a rape case continues to unfold amid counter allegations and strong denials besides official inquiries. These purported WhatsApp conversations have triggered a political storm in the state, with opposition parties targeting the Aam Aadmi Party government and the ruling party hitting them back.
While Bharatiya Janta Party demanded independent probe, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) demanded a high-level Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry as the party submitted a 300-page dossier along with other supporting documents to the Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria.
However, AAP said that the leaders of SAD are orchestrating a politically motivated campaign to malign the CM and his family while deliberately hiding their own political and personal associations. Bharatiya Janta Party stepped up its attack on the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab, alleging that a network of middlemen was being used to broker the withdrawal or dilution of rape cases for money, and sought an independent probe into what it described as a `` Rs 5-crore corruption syndicate.’’
Talking to media in Delhi, BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari, played a purported audio recordings which he claimed showed a middleman discussing a rape case with a relative of an accused and referring to the Chief Minister and his office. He further claimed that a second recording referred to an amount being ``fixed”, while another allegedly discussed distribution of the money among several people.
He referred to a photograph which Bhamdari claimed showed the Chief Minister’s wife with the alleged middleman around the time of the case. `` This video prima facie raises serious questions about whether the CM is personally intervening to end a case. Has the CM’s residence become a place where deals are struck and cut money reaches the CM and Punjab’s “Super CM”, Arvind Kejriwal? The allegations demand a clear and credible explanation,’’ he said.
The circumstances and relevance of the photograph were not independently established and also the allegations could not be independently verified from the recordings shared with the media. Bhandari did not provide evidence establishing that the voices belonged to the persons he named or that any money had actually been paid.
Also a delegation from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), led by party president Sukhbir Singh Badal, met Punjab Governor Gulab Singh Kataria in Chandigarh and apprised him about the two cases even as it called for the immediate resignation of the chief minister and registration of a FIR against the latter’s OSD and wife Dr Gurpreet Mann. These it demanded an inquiry by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into alleged corruption in the Chief Minister’s Office and attempts to protect a rape accused.
The SAD delegation submitted a 300-page dossier along with other supporting documents to the Governor. Talking to the media after submitting the representation to the Governor, Badal alleged,`` those closest to the chief minister have opened a single window service for gangsters and rapists and virtually every illegal activity including change of land use (CLU) and postings and transfers for a fee”.
Badal made it clear that the SAD would take both the cases to their logical conclusion, asserting that Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal and the Istri Akali Dal would hold a protest to “gherao’ the chief minister’s residence on September 5 and would follow it up with protests in all constituencies.
“We will continue to protest against this corrupt government till justice is not done to our “Maawan- Dheeyan” and the “balatkaris” are punished”. He said `` there is conclusive evidence that five women victims met the chief minister for justice. Despite that his wife coordinated with the rapist Guri Chahal to secure a clean chit for him in exchange for Rs 5 crore in two separate rape cases. All the proofs including audio and CCTV footage are in public domain. It is also known that in both rape cases in Amritsar and Mohali cancellation reports were filed and the accused walked scot free within two months of rape cases being registered against him. On one side are rapists and on the other the victim girls. I sincerely hope each and every one of us will support the victims”.
Asserting that when the CMO, the CM’s OSD and the chief minister’s wife were the subject of allegations and the State investigation agencies were proving ineffective, it urged the Governor to exercise his powers under Article 167 to call for a report from the chief secretary and the DGP as to why no FIR had been registered on the ED’s reference. It also urged that the circumstances under which two separate rape and abduction FIRs filed by two women were cancelled and the accused Guri Chahal was discharged should also be called for by the Governor.
While yesterday party leader Bikram Majithia played video clips of a purported WhatsApp conversation between two individuals allegedly negotiating a deal to facilitate the release of social media influencer and rape accused Gurinder Singh alias Guri Chahal, the individual in question, identified as Simranjit Singh Hundal today distanced himself from the controversy.
Hundal is a Mohali-based social media influencer and a property dealer claimed that he has neither met Dr Gurpreet Kaur nor ever offered a bribe in connection with any case. Hundal said politicians were free to engage in “cheap politics”, but should refrain from dragging his name into the controversy, failing which he would take legal recourse.
The National Human Rights Commission had last month issued notices to the Punjab Chief Secretary and Director General of Police over a complaint concerning the alleged Rs 5 crore demand to suppress the rape case. Totally denying the allegations and terming them bas less and politically motivated, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab Media In-charge Baltej Pannu alleged that the leaders of Shiromani Akali Dal are orchestrating a politically motivated campaign to malign CM BhagwantMann and his family while deliberately hiding their own political and personal associations.
He said the allegations being circulated against the Chief Minister and his family are based on unverified material and that neither the alleged audio recordings nor the claims surrounding them had been independently established. Taking direct aim at the Akali leadership, he questioned why leaders who claimed to know the individuals at the centre of the controversy so well were now approaching the Governor instead of first answering questions about their own associations.
``If you know these people so well, then why this entire drama of going to the Governor? Why not first answer the questions about your own associations?” he asked. Pannu presented a series of photographs before the media and said they exposed the political connections of people whose names were being used in the ongoing controversy.
He showed photographs of Amardeep Grewal with BJP leaders, including J.P. Nadda, Manjinder Singh Sirsa and Ravneet Singh Bittu, and questioned the political proximity of the same individual with senior BJP leaders. Pannu also showed multiple photographs of Guri Chahal with Sukhbir Singh Badal, Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Bikram Singh Majithia, including photographs from family and social functions.
He further referred to photographs of Hundal with Akali leaders, arguing that these were not images of political strangers but of people who had enjoyed proximity to the Akali leadership.
“These photographs are important because the same political ecosystem is now being presented as a source of allegations against the Mann family,” he said. Pannu questioned Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia over allegations concerning his association with Satta and Pindi, asking him to explain the relationship these individuals had with him and the Akali leadership and in what capacity they had access to their homes and political circles.
