CHANDIGARH: Senior Congress leader and Member of Parliament from Gurdaspur, Punjab, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, has alleged that the jailed gangster Jagdeep Singh alias Jaggu Bhagwanpuria has threatened to kill his son, Udhayveer Singh Randhawa.
Randhawa, the former Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab, who is currently in the national capital for the Monsoon Session of Parliament, said that a person named Parminder Singh from Fatehgarh Churian and a few other party supporters came to meet his son at 10 am on Thursday. An hour after a picture from the meeting was posted online, there was a firing at his son's turban shop. “But thankfully, no one was injured. I have brought the matter to the notice of the Punjab DGP,” he said.
He alleged that even from inside prison, Bhagwanpuria was threatening people and that one of his associates had also received a threatening call. “After the firing incident on Thursday evening, one person repeatedly wrote objectionable comments on my son's social media post,” Randhawa added.
He questioned the functioning of the state’s law enforcement agencies, asking, “Where is their intelligence, where is their cyber crime unit? If a common individual posts a status with a gun in hand, they are arrested immediately. But those who are openly threatening others—what action is being taken against them? Threats didn’t deter us even during the days of terrorism. We are not afraid. But my concern is: where does the law and order situation in the state stand today?”
Alleging that law and order has collapsed in Punjab, Randhawa pointed to a recent incident where a prominent businessman was shot dead in broad daylight outside his showroom. “There have been several other serious crimes. What is the situation today?” he asked.
This latest incident comes just over a month after Bhagwanpuria’s mother, Harjit Kaur, and a relative, Karanvir Singh, were shot dead in Batala, Gurdaspur district, on June 26. The rival Davinder Bambiha gang claimed responsibility for the killings.
Randhawa said that after the Batala incident, an MLA from the ruling AAP claimed the killing of Bhagwanpuria’s mother was a political murder. “The police should have taken his statement and questioned how it was a political murder. What are the police doing? I have repeatedly brought to the notice of senior officers the issue of a police officer’s nexus with gangsters—a matter that threatens national security—but no action has been taken,” he said.
Earlier, Randhawa also posted on X, stating: “Jailed gangster Jaggu Bhagwanpuria has threatened to kill my son. One of my associates met my son and within an hour of leaving, he was fired upon today. Bhagwant Mann and Arvind Kejriwal have turned Punjab into a gangster's paradise where law and order have totally collapsed. I am in Delhi for the Parliament session. No gangster can shake me!”
Randhawa has previously accused Bhagwanpuria of influencing voters in Dera Baba Nanak during elections, including the November 2023 assembly bypoll, where he alleged the gangster’s family intimidated locals to support AAP candidates.
Responding to the allegations, AAP spokesperson Neel Garg said Randhawa should provide full details so the matter can be investigated. He added, “Everyone knows that gangsters got patronage under previous Congress governments. The AAP government has zero tolerance towards gangsterism. We do not spare anyone who tries to disturb law and order. Since coming to power, we have jailed several gangsters and even attached their properties.”
Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, a gangster with over 128 criminal cases—including murder, extortion, arms smuggling, and drug trafficking—is currently lodged in Silchar Central Jail, Assam, under the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. He was shifted there from Bathinda Central Jail in March this year.
He was already in the custody of Punjab Police in connection with the 2022 murder of singer Sidhu Moosewala and faces several other criminal charges.
Reacting to Randhawa's claims, Leader of the Opposition in Punjab and senior Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa said, “A jailed gangster openly threatening a senior INC leader, former Deputy CM, and sitting MP—this is not just a law and order failure, it’s a damning indictment of the complete collapse of governance under Bhagwant Mann and Arvind Kejriwal. If gangsters can intimidate elected representatives from behind bars, what chance does the common man in Punjab stand? Is this the ‘badlav’ AAP promised—a state where criminals rule and citizens live in fear?”
Bajwa accused the AAP government of turning Punjab into a playground for gangsters, saying, “While Kejriwal remains busy marketing false narratives, Punjab has become lawless under AAP.”
Punjab Congress president and Ludhiana MP Amrinder Singh Raja Warring also condemned the incident, saying, “A gangster has the audacity to threaten a senior INC leader from inside jail! Imagine the plight of common people in Punjab. This reflects the complete collapse of law and order in Punjab.”