Vigilance SSP suspended over summoning Congress Ludhiana West candidate as 'favour'

Chandigarh: The Punjab government on Friday placed under suspension Ludhiana Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Vigilance Jagatpreet Singh with a minister claiming that the officer issued summons to the Congress candidate who is contesting the Ludhiana West bypoll to "favour" him.

The bypoll to Ludhiana West assembly seat will take place on June 19 and the counting will be held on June 23. The seat fell vacant following the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Punjab minister Tarunpreet Singh Sondh, while speaking to reporters in Ludhiana, alleged that a "conspiracy orchestrated by Congress leader Bharat Bhushan Ashu to gain political sympathy ahead of the Ludhiana West byelection has been exposed".

Sondh alleged that a vigilance notice to Ashu "was part of a deceitful ploy devised by Ashu himself. Upon investigation, it was uncovered that the Vigilance SSP who issued the notice was a former classmate and close friend of Ashu".

Notably, the Vigilance had Thursday summoned Ashu in connection with an alleged school land misuse case in Ludhiana, in which allegations pertain to cheating, criminal breach of trust and forgery.

Punjab's Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Home Affairs, Alok Shekhar, issued the suspension order, which read, "Jagatpreet Singh, PPS (Punjab Police Service officer), SSP Vigilance has been placed under suspension with immediate effect under Rule 4(1) (a) of the Punjab Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 1970, for his grave misconduct and dereliction of duty." In Ludhiana, Sondh alleged that "Ashu manipulated his connections to fabricate the notice, aiming to portray himself as a victim and divert public attention from his alleged multi-crore corruption in a school land scam".

"This is possibly the first time in India's political history that a politician has stooped so low and fabricated summons to play a victim card. Bharat Bhushan Ashu's intent was clear -- to garner sympathy by portraying himself as a target of the current government," alleged Sondh.

The AAP leader alleged that the Congress party is resorting to desperate and unethical tactics out of fear of imminent defeat in Ludhiana West.

"Strict action has been taken against the vigilance officer involved in this conspiracy. The officer who misused his position to favour Ashu has been suspended. Such behaviour will not be tolerated under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann," he said.

However, Punjab Congress president and Ludhiana MP Amarinder Singh Raja Warring took a strong exception to the Vigilance Bureau summoning party candidate Ashu amid the latter's election campaign.

Warring said in Ludhiana, "Summoning Ashu at this stage only reveals that AAP has admitted its defeat and is now acting in sheer frustration." "The cat is out of the bag as both Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann are feeling desperate and frustrated about the imminent fact that they are losing the elections," he claimed.

Condemning the summons issued to Ashu, he asked why did the vigilance need to issue these in the midst of the campaign and why they could not wait till the elections.

AAP has fielded Rajya Sabha member Sanjeev Arora for the bypoll.

The Congress has fielded former minister Ashu, who had remained MLA twice from this seat in 2012 and 2017.