Ludhiana Vigilance SSP who issued summons to Ashu suspended; “what kind of circus is this,” asks Congress

Despite repeated attempts, SSP Jagatpreet Singh did not respond to calls and messages.

The Vigilance Bureau issued summons to Ashu Thursday in connection with an FIR filed on January 8, 2025, at Ludhiana’s Division Number 5 police station, against New Senior Secondary School’s “management committee members” for alleged cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery, and conspiracy.

The investigation in the case was transferred to the Vigilance Bureau owing to suspected involvement of government officials. At least 25 others, including current and former school management committee members, were also summoned. According to a vigilance official, Ashu was summoned on Thursday as he was an “ex-member of the committee”.

The summons came barely two weeks ahead of the June 19 Ludhiana West bypolls, which Ashu is contesting.

The image released by Congress party purportedly shows SSP Jagatpreet Singh attending AAP candidate Arora’s meeting.
(Source: Congress party)

Ashu got summons issued by his SSP-friend: AAP

Cabinet Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond claimed that Ashu got the vigilance notice issued to himself through the vigilance SSP ‟who is a former classmate and close friend” of the Congress leader, a charge that was termed as laughable by the Opposition party.

‟Ashu manipulated his connections to fabricate the notice to play the victim card and divert public attention from the scam in which he, his associates and his brother are accused of misappropriating prime land meant for a school. This is possibly the first time in country’s political history that a politician has stooped so low. Ashu’s intent was clear—to garner sympathy by portraying himself as a target of the current government,” Sond told a press conference.

AAP spokesperson Neel Garg too said that the ‟Vigilance SSP was a known associate of Ashu from his ministerial tenure”.

“This gimmick was a desperate attempt to sway voters in Ludhiana West, but the truth has come to light. It is evident that the Congress party, under the control of its Punjab in-charge Bhupesh Baghel, is attempting to script baseless sympathy narratives, as they lack credibility and trust among the people. The people of Ludhiana see through these antics and are firmly supporting AAP’s clean and development-oriented politics,” Garg said, adding the case against Ashu ‟involves massive corruption worth thousands of crores”, and ‟every individual responsible will be held accountable”.

Sond added that the ‟officer who misused his position to favour Ashu has been suspended”. He said ‟such behaviour will not be tolerated under the leadership” of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

Is Ashu running Punjab Police, asks Bajwa

Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa termed the allegations a “laughable face-saving stunt.” “What kind of circus is this? Is Ashu running the police department now? This whole drama is an insult to the intelligence of Punjabis. Suspending the officer to cover up their own blunder shows how far AAP will go to befool the public. But no one is buying their cock-and-bull story,” he said.

Congress leader and former minister Raj Kumar Verka added, ‟Does the AAP want to say that CM Mann, who is also the home minister and to whom the Vigilance Bureau reports, is so helpless that he does not know what is happening right under his nose?”

Ashu, meanwhile, said, ‟Did I send the case file to the vigilance and ask them to send summons to me? Is Ashu so powerful in the AAP government that he can get summons issued to himself?”.

Ashu further claimed that ever since campaigning for the bypoll picked pace, a “message” has been sent to all 28 police stations in Ludhiana “to dig out any old complaints” pending against him. “Ashu nu phasao (implicate Ashu) is the only motive of this government,” the two-time former Ludhiana West MLA said.

On school land misuse case , he said: “It has been over a decade since I had resigned from that school’s management committee. Twenty-seven others who also left the committee several years ago have been summoned just because they know me”.

Ashu also refuted allegations of him meeting SSP Jagatpreet Singh. Addressing a press conference

Suspended SSP’s ‘AAP connect’

Later, Ashu and other senior Congress leaders released the photographs AAP bypoll candidate and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora addressing a group of officials, including Jagatpreet Singh.

Ashu said, ‟AAP’s cheap tactic has boomeranged. Now the government is trying to save face by making the SSP a scapegoat. Earlier, they had suspended Vigilance chief SPS Parmar in a similar way”.

Congress’s Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh said, “This photograph is clear evidence of how the entire administration and the police machinery are working on the orders of the AAP candidate. The AAP government’s intention was to get him (Ashu) arrested so that our workers and supporters would also feel scared and the campaign would get derailed. But the irony is that their own campaign got derailed”, said Rana Gurjeet.

Will neither forget, nor forgive: Warring

Ludhiana MP and state Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring warned the AAP dispensation that his party will “neither forget, nor shall we forgive or spare you”.

Addressing media, he said earlier also cases have been registered against the workers and councillors of the Congress just to threaten and intimidate them so that they do not campaign for the party candidate.

Warring said that once Congress comes to power in 2027, “a commission will be set up to verify the cases and officers found to have registered fake FIRs will be dismissed instantly.” He claimed that there are “about 50 DSPs, about 35 SPs and a few more officers” in Punjab who deserve to be dismissed immediately.

Warring said that summoning Ashu at this stage reveals that the AAP has admitted its defeat and is now acting in sheer frustration. “Both AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal and Mann are feeling desperate and frustrated about the fact that they are losing the elections,” he added.

Bajwa said the AAP government’s desperate attempts to harass opposition leaders has been followed by an embarrassing scramble to save face.

“It’s clear that the AAP government first tried to use state machinery to scare Ashu into silence. Summons were issued not as part of any genuine investigation, but as a crude, desperate tactic to gain political advantage,” Bajwa said.

He questioned the timing of the summons, calling it a “desperate, dictatorial move” and a gross misuse of power. “This is not governance; this is vendetta politics at its worst. Bhagwant Mann seems more focused on silencing rivals than serving the people of Punjab,” he said.

Bajwa further reminded AAP of recent political setbacks. “Punjabis have already begun rejecting AAP’s arrogance—be it in the Lok Sabha elections or the Barnala bypoll. And on June 19, Ludhiana West will deliver another loud and clear message,” he added.

MLA Pappi justifies summons

At a separate press conference, AAP’s Ludhiana Central MLA Ashok Parashar Pappi said that the investigation into the Ludhiana’s school land misuse case was ongoing since long. Justifying the summons sent to Congress leader Bharat Bhushan Ashu, the MLA said: “All those who have been sent summons were named by the stakeholders involved in the case. The AAP as a party has nothing to with it. The law is taking its own course in the case.”