CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Police on Tuesday questioned senior Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa at the Cyber Crime Police Station, Phase-7, Mohali, for six hours over his remark that '50 bombs' had reached the state. An FIR had earlier been registered against him in connection with the remark.
Bajwa said later, "I cannot tell you how many questions they asked but it was a long list. I went inside at 2 PM and came out at 8 PM. Whenever they call me for questioning again, I am ready for it."
He added, "I am not a tall personality but my position is big in a democracy. After the CM, this is the second most important position. If you can call a person in this position to the police station and do a sustained interrogation for six hours, what will be the fate of the common man?"
Alleging that it was a political vendetta by the AAP government, senior Congress leaders and numerous party workers accompanied Bajwa to the police station and staged a dharna outside it.
The leaders included Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, former Speaker Rana KP Singh and former minister Brahm Mohindra.
Meanwhile, national leaders including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi were in regular touch with the state leadership and were closely monitoring the situation.
Before leaving for Mohali, the leaders gathered at the Punjab Congress Bhawan and held a meeting where they reaffirmed that what Bajwa had said in an interview was true and the party stood by him.
Warring cautioned the police officials right from the DGP Punjab, the SSP Mohali and the SHO to ensure that they do not succumb to the political pressure of the AAP and breach their brief. He said the Congress does not forget and will remember each and every official who has intimidated and persecuted party leaders and workers.
Warring said what Bajwa told a TV channel had already been reported. He gave a detailed list of grenade attacks reported from different parts of the state.
Speaking on the occasion, former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi observed that CM Mann should have shown some grace and called up Bajwa and discussed the situation in the state with him.
He reminded the Chief Minister that he was no longer holding a “stage show” but was holding a responsible position of the Chief Minister. He warned that dark clouds were hovering over the horizon of Punjab and the time had come when everyone had to sit together. But, instead, the Chief Minister decided to slap an FIR against the Leader of the Opposition.
Former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said that if CM Mann was so keen to register FIRs, why had he not ordered any inquiry so far over pro-Khalistan activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannu’s revelations that he had financed the AAP campaign in 2017 and 2022.
Randhawa challenged CM Mann to reveal from where the grenades lobbed on various police stations and other places in Punjab had come.
He said that while on the one hand the police claimed that these were tyre bursts and cylinder blasts, on the other hand they claimed to have killed one suspect in an encounter.
Speaking on the occasion, Bajwa said if Mann had any idea of what happened in Punjab till 1992-93, he would be able to realize the seriousness of the situation.
Retorting to the Chief Minister's remark that he (Bajwa) was searching for lawyers, Bajwa asked whether Mann's colleagues like Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia had come out of Tihar without any lawyers. Moreover, he disclosed that the Mohali Police was not even providing a copy of the FIR to him and he managed to get it only after directions from a court.
Referring to the Punjab Police serving him a summons at his home, he asked the Chief Minister whether he had issued similar summons to those involved in drug cases and those who facilitated Lawrence Bishnoi’s interview with television channels.
He said he cannot be intimidated by such tactics of the AAP government. He pointed out that his father had sacrificed his life for the country, while he had been attacked with bombs during militancy in Punjab. “We have a history of making sacrifices for the country," he asserted.
Bajwa expressed his gratitude to the national leadership of the party and his colleagues and party cadres in the state for standing by him.
As Bajwa went inside the police station, Congress workers resorted to sloganeering against the AAP government after heated arguments with the cops. Earlier, AAP party state president Aman Arora and other leaders staged a protest in Phase 2 demanding the arrest of Bajwa in the case.
Earlier in the day, Bajwa moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, seeking quashing of an FIR registered against him over his "50 bombs have reached Punjab" statement. His counsel and senior advocate APS Deol said a petition has been filed to quash the FIR and it has been listed for Wednesday. Deol submitted that the charges against Bajwa were baseless.
Bajwa has been booked under Sections 197(1)(d) (false and misleading information that endangers country's sovereignty and unity) and 353(2) (false statements intend to create enmity and hatred or ill will) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The case was registered at Cyber Crime police station in Mohali.
In an interview to a private television channel, Bajwa had claimed, "I have come to know that 50 bombs have reached Punjab. Of this, 18 have exploded, 32 are yet to go off." A Punjab Police team on Sunday visited the residence of Bajwa and questioned him over the source of his statement.
