A Khalistani militant, identified as Narain Singh Chaura attempted to open fire at Sukhbir Singh Badal | X
Chandigarh: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) which has demanded a judicial inquiry into what its leaders have termed as “a murderous attack’’ on its senior leader Sukhbir Badal on Wednesday outside Golden Temple where he was serving his “religious punishment’’ decreed by Akal Takht, on Thursday alleged that it was an intelligence failure as the attacker was a sponsored hit-man of the ISI aiming at finishing Akali leadership.
Addressing newspersons here, senior SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia questioned Punjab police and the Amritsar police commissioner to explain why Amritsar superintendent of police (SP) Harpal Randhawa could be seen in a footage shaking hands with shooter Naraian Singh Chaura when the latter conducted a recce of Sri Darbar Sahib on December 3, a day prior to the murder bid on Sukhbir Badal.
Displaying a footage from the Sri Darbar Sahib complex to allege how SP Randhawa seemed to be on friendly terms with Chaura despite knowing that the latter was a hardcore militant who had more than 30 cases registered against him, Majithia held that the SP and Chaura are from the same assembly constituency of Dera Baba Nanak.
Majithia also condemned Amritsar police commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar of caving in under pressure from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and deliberately calling one media person to his residence and giving a byte to give the impression that the attack on Sukhbir Badal could have been engineering to create sympathy for the Akali leader.
BJP FOR NIA/CBI PROBE
Meanwhile, the BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh also came down heavily on AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal for seeing a conspiracy angle in the assassination attempt on Sukhbir Badal, saying that Kejriwal was trying to deflect the gravity of the law and order situation in Punjab.
Chugh alleged that Kejriwal is trying to cover up the dismal failure of the AAP government to maintain law and order in Punjab following which hardcore radicals and gangsters have been having a field day in the state.
Chugh reiterated his demand for a CBI or NIA investigation into the incident to expose the failures of the AAP government in maintaining law and order in Punjab and causing a threat to even those who are having Z plus security.
