Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia on Monday, alleged that the Punjab Police terming the attack on a petrol pump of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) member Jodh Singh Samra on Sunday night “a loot attempt” was an effort to “sweep the matter under the carpet”.
Claiming that the AAP wants to “eliminate opposition leaders”, Majithia said Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was “targeting opposition leaders instead of controlling the law and order situation”.
Addressing a press conference here, Majithia said gangsters were openly attacking opposition leaders.
Majithia claimed that the attack on the petrol pump at Kaler Mangat village in the Majitha Assembly segment took place because it was owned by SGPC member Jodh Singh Samra, his close aide and the SAD Ajnala segment in-charge. He alleged that the prime motive of the attack was to target Samra, who was supposed to visit the pump.
A petrol pump employee died, and two suffered serious injuries after a group of youths travelling in a car allegedly assaulted petrol pump staff and then opened indiscriminate fire after pump staff reportedly refused to refuel their vehicle in Kaler Mangat village, about 4 kilometres from the Majitha area of Amritsar, on Sunday night.
One of the employees, Gautam, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, died on his way to a hospital. Two other employees, Amit and Darpan, were admitted to Guru Ram Das Hospital in Amritsar.
Accusing police of postulating “a fake theory” that it was “a loot attempt”, Majithia said the attack took place late at night after the pump was shut down.
“Attackers parked their vehicle on the road and opened indiscriminate fire, killing one person and seriously injuring two, but the attackers did not take away even a single rupia from the pump,” he said.
On registration of a case against leader of the Opposition (LoP) Partap Singh Bajwa, the SAD leader said that he had predicted in mid-January that attempts were being made to disturb peace and communal harmony in the state and any prominent Hindu leader or businessman could be the next target of attackers.
Majithia claimed that two months after his prediction, the residence of former minister Manoranjan Kalia was attacked.
Similarly, when Bajwa blew the whistle and disclosed that “there are threats of more grenade attacks”, he was booked.
Majithia warned, “Journalists exposing intelligence failure will also be booked.”