After the arrest of Congress MLA from Bholath constituency, Sukhpal Singh Khaira, in a 2015 Narcotic-Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) case, the politics of Punjab has gained momentum. Punjab Governor Banwari Lal Purohit has swung into action and has written to state Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav, seeking report about the recent arrest of the MLA. He has also asked the state police chief to file an Action Taken Report (ATR).
Recently, a Congress delegation met Governor Purohit and informed him that Sukhpal Singh Khaira had been wrongly arrested by the Punjab Police from his residence in Chandigarh and that the Supreme Court had also granted relief to him in the above -mentioned case in which he has been arrested.
Khaira was arrested from Chandigarh and taken to Jalalabad by the Punjab Police team, where he was produced in the court and taken on police remand for two days. After the remand period ended on Saturday, the court sent Khaira to the Sri Muktsar Sahib Jail in judicial custody for 14 days. Later, the jail administration transferred him to Nabha jail for security reasons. In 2015, the Jalalabad Police had arrested 9 people, including Gurdev Singh, the former chairman of the market committee, Dhilwan. More than 1 kg of heroin, gold biscuits, a country-made .315 bore pistol, two Pakistani SIM cards, and a Tata Safari car had been recovered from their possession. In this case, Khaira’s name had cropped up due to his alleged relationship with former chairman Gurdev Singh. Along with Khaira, his personal security officer, personal assistant, UK resident Charanjit Kaur, and Major Singh Bajwa were also named. Earlier, in this case, on 31 October 2017, the Fazilka court had convicted nine persons.