New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stepped up offensive on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab, over an alleged network of middlemen linked to the Chief Minister’s office in ‘watering down or dilution’ of rape cases for money, and asked whether “a loot syndicate” was running in the state, involving Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his wife Dr Gurpreet Kaur Mann.
Addressing a press conference at party headquarters, BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari played out audio clippings and claimed that the middlemen could be heard discussing a rape case with a relative of the accused, while giving references and assurances on behalf of the Chief Minister.
He claimed that the second audio recording referred to an amount allegedly being “fixed”, while another allegedly discussed distribution of the money among several people.
He demanded that CM Bhagwant Mann and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal answer whether rape cases in Punjab were becoming part of the “AAP’s loot model”, and added that their silence was only adding to the suspicion and was rather seeming like an “admission of guilt.”
He claimed that the Punjab CM and his wife are accused of demanding bribes of Rs 5 crore through middlemen to get rape cases withdrawn.
Pointing to a specific case of an arrested Gurvinder Chahal, Bhandari demanded investigation by a Central agency and also fixing accountability for the ‘loot syndicate’.
The BJP spokesperson further claimed that the audio recordings that surfaced point to the fact that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is allegedly running a new loot racket and corruption racket in Punjab and called it the “AAP’s loot model”.
He also referred to the National Human Rights Commission’s (NHRC) findings, stating that the rights body has already written a letter to the Chief Secretary, Government of Punjab, and the Punjab DGP.
Bhandari further alleged that the AAP government in Punjab was replicating the loot model of Delhi.
“Bhagwant Mann and Arvind Kejriwal must answer whether they are running a corruption and loot syndicate, just like the Sheesh Mahal syndicate in Delhi. This is AAP’s new loot syndicate, in which allegations are that for withdrawing rape cases, the Chief Minister’s office is taking money and doing deals,” he asked.
(IANS)
