FIR filed against Punjab ex-minister Bhullar after govt official commits suicide

Police have booked former Punjab minister Laljit Singh Bhullar in connection with the suicide of a state warehousing corporation official, officials said on Sunday. Gagandeep Singh Randhawa, the district manager of the Punjab State Warehousing Corporation in Amritsar, allegedly took his own life by consuming a poisonous substance on Saturday. The police also booked Bhullar's father, Sukhdev Singh Bhullar, and personal assistant Dilbag Singh. The FIR has been registered under sections 108 (abetment of suicide), 351 (3) (criminal intimidation) and 3 (5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The case was registered on a complaint of Randhawa's wife, Upinder Kaur, at Ranjit Avenue Police Station in Amritsar on Saturday night. On Saturday, Bhullar tendered his resignation from the state cabinet after Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann asked him to step down amid allegations of abetment of suicide. Earlier the same day, a video surfaced on social media in which Randhawa, who held the additional charge of Patti, was purportedly heard saying that he had consumed Celphos and accused the transport minister of harassment. "Kha layi 'celphos' tuhade yaar ne. Minister Laljit Bhullar de dar ton. Hun nahi main bachda," (Your friend has eaten Celphos because of fear of minister Laljit Bhullar. I will not survive now)," Randhawa said in the clip.

Bhullar, the MLA from Patti in Tarn Taran, rejected allegations against him as baseless. In her complaint lodged with the police, Randhawa's wife claimed that her husband was constantly pressured to allot a warehouse tender to Bhullar's father and was threatened with violence against him and his family. According to the FIR, Kaur said that the Punjab State Warehousing Corporation in October last year awarded tenders in several districts for the construction of new warehouses. Bhullar was one of many who bid for a tender for the construction of godowns by his father, Sukhdev Singh Bhullar, in Patti and Bhikhiwind in Tarn Taran. Kaur, in her complaint, which is part of the FIR, said her husband told her that he was continuously pressured to award the tender to Bhullar's father. She claimed that her husband would often break down and feel pushed against the wall because of the demand. He would tell her that he could not go against the rules, she said. Kaur alleged that after the warehouse tender was issued to another party, Bhullar became infuriated and turned the screw on her husband. Bhullar, through WhatsApp calls, would threaten him with violence and ask him to cancel the tender and issue it in the name of his father, she alleged. According to the FIR, on March 13, Bhullar called Randhawa to his Patti residence and humiliated and assaulted him. Kaur alleged that her husband was at gunpoint forced to admit that he took Rs 10 lakh for allotting the tender to another party. Due to harassment, he ate poison at 5.50 am on Saturday and recorded a video on social media before his death, she said. On Saturday, Mann said he had directed the chief secretary to conduct an impartial probe into the matter and asked the minister to step down for a fair probe. No negligence would be tolerated in the matter, Mann said, adding Bhullar's portfolios of transport and prison would be allocated to some other minister. As the video surfaced online, the opposition party leaders slammed the AAP government and demanded action against Bhullar.