‘Drug peddler’ claims links with Cong MLA Warring

The name of Gidderbaha’s Congress legislator Amrinder Singh Raja Warring has cropped up in a drug scandal after an alleged peddler has reportedly revealed to have funded his election campaign.

Alleged drug peddler Gurlal Singh was arrested on Saturday from Sirsa in Haryana and the Mansa police claim to have found the legislator and his associates on his mobile-phone contact list. “Congressman Manjeet Singh Phoolewal, who also is on this list, introduced Gurlal Singh to the leader, after which the drug peddler put Rs 4 lakh into his 2012 assembly election campaign in lieu of political support and patronage for drug trafficking in Punajb and Haryana,” senior superintendent of police (SSP) Bhupinder Singh Khattra said here on Sunday.

The officer has also claimed that Warring and Phoolewal supported another man in a murder trial. For now, the police will investigate if the legislator’s vehicle was used in drug trafficking across the state.

In own defence, Warring claimed the police had targeted him at the behest of the state government that wanted to ruin his political career. “I haven’t met or seen Gurlal Singh before. I demand a CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) inquiry into this political witch-hunting by the ruling party,” said the Gidderbaha legislator.

The police will seek to keep Gurlal Singh in custody for more days. “Before we go after the MLA (member of the legislative assembly), we will gather evidence based on extended custody of the accused,” said the SSP.

Gurlal Singh was caught for the first time in 2006 at Rama Mandi, Bathinda, with 680-gm smack. Being a juvenile, he was then acquitted. Subsequently, he got into drug trafficking in various states, including Punjab, say the police, who on Saturday reported the man to be a murder accused and a key member of the Makhan Gang that has nearly 85 criminal cases against it.