Mansa police haste in naming Cong MLA raises eyebrows

The Mansa police have surprised many by their eagerness in “revealing” sensational preliminary inquiry findings about the alleged link of the Congress MLA from Gidderbaha, Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, with accused drug peddler Gurlal Singh.

The “details” were shared in the public domain within a few hours of Gurlal’s arrest, and it is a rare case in which the police were enthusiastic in explaining to the media the suspected role of a politician in the multi-crore drug racket. No heed was paid to earlier arguments that such early “revelation” could hurt the probe progress.

Also, while in the past the police have paid little heed to media reports carrying photos of arrested accused Bittu Aulakh with three ministers of the Badal government, in this case the police prepared hard copies of a photo of Warring with an accused to distribute among mediapersons. This, when the cops have acknowledged that the “evidence” so far against Warring is only that his contact details were found in Gurlal’s mobile phone.

The police’s official press release about the arrest of Gurlal had no mention of Warring. But Mansa senior superintendent of police (SSP) Bhupinder Singh Khattra had no qualms in verbally explaining Warring’s alleged link.

It must be noted that the police acted much more cautiously when names of SAD leaders Rattan Singh Ajnala and minister Bikram Singh Majithia and others came up in similar circumstances. In case of Majithia, director general of police (DGP) Sumedh Singh Saini had himself given a clean chit to the Akali leader soon after allegations were made by arrested “kingpin” Jagdish Singh Bhola.

Similarly, deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who also holds charge of home affairs, was quick in giving the clean chit to SAD MP Rattan Singh Ajnala and his son in the drug case, even before the police could complete investigation. Police remained mum then.

Even in case of allegations on the son of SAD MLA and former minister Sarwan Singh Phillaur, Damanvir Singh, who has been questioned by the enforcement department, the police have not shared details. On this count, though, Phillaur resigned from the cabinet on “moral grounds”.

HT asked SSP Khattra about the “revelations” being in contrast to procedure followed when the ruling parties’ men are named, and whether such a revelation could hurt further investigation.

He replied, “The MLA himself contacted us and said that he is not involved in any such case. We never informed him about the arrest. He raised this issue in the Vidhan Sabha too, and he may try to influence the case. But we will try our best to proceed in this case based on facts and testimonies.”