Manpreet Badal: The vigilance department raided his residence yesterday. (file)
Chandigarh:
A day after the state vigilance department filed a case against him in connection with alleged irregularities in the purchase of a property in Bathinda, the Punjab Police today issued a Look-Out Circular (LOC) against the former finance minister at all airports and BJP leader Manpreet. Singh Badal.
Manpreet Badal had already filed an application for judicial custody, which was supposed to come up for hearing on September 26, but his lawyer has now withdrawn it and says they will approach the court with a fresh application now that a First Information Report (FIR) has been released . , is registered.
An FIR was registered under sections of the act relating to cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy, and 13(1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act – punishment for a public servant who commits criminal misconduct, besides the Information Technology Act. against him, and five others, in a land allocation case. The Punjab Vigilance Bureau had raided his residence in Sri Muktsar Sahib district yesterday.
Prime Minister Bhagwant Mann yesterday took a swipe at Mr Badal and said those who used to boast about honesty are now running from pillar to post to save their skins.
“There is a huge difference between speaking the truth and living it,” the Prime Minister said.
These leaders previously said they would wait for any action to be taken against them but are now seeking legal protection from arrest, he added.
BJP leader Sarup Chand Singla, who was earlier with the Shiromani Akali Dal, had alleged that Mr Badal, as a minister in the previous Congress government, had misused his position to convert two commercial plots into a residential plot for himself.
Mr Badal had joined the BJP after quitting the Congress in January this year.
After his interrogation in July, Mr Badal had accused Prime Minister Mann of trying to suppress the voice of his political opponents through such actions.
