Looking for Manpreet Badal, vigilance raids locations in 5 states, Chandigarh; Jakhar questions timing

The bureau had registered a case against Manpreet and five others in connection in the matter. Three of them have been arrested. A court in Bathinda had recently issued an arrest warrant against Manpreet. Vigilance sleuths reached his Chandigarh residence in the evening but he was not there, sources said.

Separate teams raided several locations in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan, they said. Meanwhile, Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for “targeting” political opponents.

According to a statement, he demanded a thorough investigation into all cases filed against opposition leaders in the 18 months of the AAP government.

“There is an eerie coherence in AAP’s machinations to suppress the voice of opposition by targeting them with motivated cases,” Jakhar said, citing the cases against Manpreet and Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira — the latter arrested by the Punjab Police from his Chandigarh residence Thursday morning in a drugs case.

Jakhar said the timing of the registration of the case against Manpreet coincided with the Punjab governor raising questions of the fiscal propriety from Mann. He said it was “a tactic of diverting attention from core issues of public concern”. He also underlined “the need to evolve guardrails in form of a robust mechanism to guard against tyranny of those in power by misuse of law enforcement”.

Another senior BJP leader, RP Singh, said, “Manpreet Singh Badal has said that he is ready to give all information and evidence to vigilance department. He is ready to face any challenge and is innocent.” The lookout circular against Manpreet was issued Monday after the vigilance bureau conducted raids at his residence in Muktsar’s Badal village.

Manpreet had joined the BJP after quitting the Congress in January. The vigilance had launched an investigation against Manpreet based on former MLA Sarup Chand Singla’s 2021 complaint alleging irregularities in the purchase of the property at a prime location in Bathinda.

With PTI inputs.