Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Monday denied any role in engineering the transfer of Enforcement Directorate officer Niranjan Singh, who was investigating the Rs. 6,000 crore synthetic drugs case in which the names of several senior Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) leaders have cropped up.
Talking to the media on the sidelines of a Sangat Darshan programme in Sri Muktsar Sahib, Mr Badal said such allegations are only a figment of imagination. Coming down heavily on the Opposition for blaming the ruling alliance for transfer of Enforcement Directorate officers from the State, the Chief Minister said that it was on record that this decision has been taken by the Union Government on administrative grounds. He said that for the sake of scoring brownie points in the media, the Opposition parties were flaring up this issue out of proportion.
In the meantime, former Deputy Superintendent of Punjab Police Jagdish Singh Bhola, who had upon his arrest in the case accused Punjab Minister Bikram Singh Majithia of involvement in the drug racket, was on Monday produced before a Patiala court. Fearing that there may be a threat to his life, his lawyer had demanded his production as he had not been brought before the court by the ED on several hearings.
While Bhola had sought interim bail, the matter was adjourned till January 23 as the ED officials were not present during the hearing.
Mr Badal also denied any religious or political motive behind banning the screening of MSG: Messenger of God, the movie controversial godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim in Punjab. The Chief Minister said he had done so on the advisory of the Government of India which had earlier last week cautioned both Haryana and Punjab to remain on alert as the screening of the movie could lead to protests and clashes.
Mr Badal said the the reports of intelligence agencies of both the Centre and the State Government had clearly said that the release of this movie could have led to serious repercussions in terms of law and order.
Reiterating the firm commitment of Punjab Government to maintain peace and amity, he said hard earned peace in Punjab would be sustained at every cost.
“We have received advisory from the Central Government to ban this movie and thus the State Government acted accordingly in the larger public interest,” added Mr. Badal.
