CHANDIGARH: Aam Aadmi Party leader and former Punjab Transport Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar was arrested on Monday in connection with the death of a warehousing corporation official.
The police arrested Bhullar from Mandi Gobindgarh town.
A case was registered against Bhullar on Sunday, hours after Gagandeep Singh Randhawa, the District Manager of the Punjab State Warehousing Corporation, ended his life.
Randhawa, who had accused the minister of harassment and coercion, had reportedly consumed Celphos at his residence in Amritsar on Saturday.
Before dying, Randhawa recorded a 12-second video on his mobile phone, saying: "Kha layi Celphos thuade yaar ne minister Laljit Bhullar de dar ton, hun ni bachda (Your friend has consumed poison due to fear of minister Laljit Bhullar; I won’t survive now)."
Randhawa is survived by his wife, a government school teacher, and three children.
After the minister’s arrest, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann wrote on X: "For me, the entire Punjab is one family. If anyone in Punjab violates the law, strict action will be taken against them, no matter what position they hold or whether they are my relative or someone influential."
Besides former Minister Bhullar, his father Sukhdev Bhullar and personal assistant Dilbagh Singh have also been booked under Sections 108 (abetment to suicide), 351 (criminal intimidation) and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
In her complaint, the deceased’s wife, Upinder Kaur, alleged that the former minister, his father and his PA allegedly assaulted her husband and held them liable for abetment in suicide.
Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Sunil Jakhar has expressed sorrow over the suicide of Randhawa and said that Chief Minister Mann no longer has any moral basis to remain in power.
Jakhar has said the BJP would fight at every level to ensure justice for the victim's family. He noted that earlier, people in Punjab were losing their lives due to their inability to pay extortion and were facing gangster rule, but now even government officials are being forced to take their own lives due to their inability to meet the alleged demands of Ministers. This incident "is equivalent to the broad daylight murder of a government officer and that a case should be registered immediately against Minister Bhullar and he should be arrested", he had demanded.
He had also expressed surprise over the Chief Minister's statement that the probe would be handed over to the State Chief Secretary K.A.P. Sinha, questioning since when the Chief Secretary has been investigating "murder cases".
Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Partap Singh Bajwa, on Sunday, joined his Congress's protest against the government, standing in solidarity with the family of Randhawa and reiterating that “this is not merely a fight for one family, but a larger battle for justice, accountability, and the protection of honest officers in Punjab”.