The Congress on Thursday said that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal are doing to Lokpal IG Shamlal Ghakhar what Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi did to police officer Sanjiv Bhatt. Congress MLA Sukhpal Khaira the Lokpal IG,an IPS officer,because is being harassed as he is probing the allegations leveled against the Badals of promoting their family-owned transport business in the state. Sanjiv Bhatt,also an IPS officer,is currently in jail,arrested,it is alleged,for testifying against Narendra Modi in a post-Godhra riots case. Khaira,through a press statement,said Ghakhar was also in the process of inquiring into the Rs 100 crore land grab scandal in Kapurthala in which Bibi Jagir Kaur is aalso involved,and to which the Chief Minister has been made a party. In order to intimidate,threaten and coerce Ghakhar into submission,the Deputy CM directed the Patiala administration to harass the family of the IG on frivolous grounds such as getting his official house vacated. Wife and children of the IG were traumatised in the absence of the IG and were forced to vacate their official home, he alleged. An appeal against the ex-parte order of SDM,Patiala is pending with the Commissioner MS Ladhar in the matter. There are large number of seniors officers in Chandigarh and district headquarters who are overstaying in their official residences but the said IG has been singled out to intimidate him not to pursue the complaint against the Badal family. Badal and his Akali brigade organized dharnas in Punjab to show solidarity with Anna Hazare demanding a strong Jan Lokpal Bill,but in reality they want to weaken the institution of Lokpal, the MLA added.
