Liquor at rally: A year after taint, Punjab minister’s son absolved

Aman Sood

Tribune News Service

Patiala, May 28

A year after he was indicted for “dereliction of duty” leading to alleged free flow of liquor at an Akali rally in Ghanaur, Punjab Minister Gulzar Singh Ranike’s son and Excise and Taxation Inspector Bhupinderpal Singh has been given a clean chit by the state government. Priyank Bharti, then Patiala District Electoral Officer (DEO), had found Bhupinderpal guilty of “providing misleading information to the DEO”. 

The case had come to light after The Tribune highlighted how liquor was distributed to woo the voters at the rally, organised in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Bhupinderpal had claimed that his team could not establish whether or not the liquor brand shown in photographs was sold from the Ghanaur vend. He had also maintained that the brand shown in the pictures was not sold at that vend for the past two months. 

The latest probe recommending a clean chit to the excise inspector was conducted by Gurtej Singh, Director (Investigation), Excise and Taxation Department. He has submitted his report to Punjab Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) VK Singh for necessary action. 

“The allegations in the chargesheet (against Bhupinderpal) could not be proved,” read the report sent to the CEO on April 30.

The CEO can now either ask for a fresh probe if he was not satisfied with the probe findings or forward the report to the Election Commission for acceptance. “I am yet to see the report; will comment only after I read it thoroughly. In case the findings are found to be satisfactory, we will forward the report to Delhi,” he said. 

Bharti’s report had superseded an initial clean chit given to Bhupinderpal by former Patiala Deputy Commissioner Gopal Krishan Singh. 

Bhupinderpal claimed the allegations against him were "baseless" and "politically motivated". 

How booze was used to ‘woo’ voters 

• The Tribune had highlighted the alleged distribution of liquor at the March 20, 2014, rally organised by the Akalis in Ghanaur
• The rally was addressed by Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal in support of SAD-BJP’s Patiala candidate Deepinder Dhillon 
• Bhupinderpal Singh, posted Rajpura Excise Inspector then, had checked the liquor vend’s stock register to ascertain if it had sold the brand shown in the pictures taken at the rally venue 
• He and his team initially gave a clean chit to the vend owner, stating the brand shown in the photos had not been sold there for the past two months
• The excise department later confirmed that the vend had sold that particular brand on that day. The department report concluded that “liquor was distributed at the rally”, though it could not be established whether the organisers distributed it
• Patiala DEO Gopal Krishan Singh initially gave a clean chit to the organisers stating that media reports could not establish the identity of the persons carrying liquor cartons
• The Election Commission then replaced Gopal Krishan Singh with Priyank Bharti who, in his report, held that Bhupinderpal allegedly gave misleading information to the election office