Supreme Court stays Fazilka court order summoning Khaira in drugs case

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 1

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the order of a Fazilka court summoning Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sukhpal Khaira in a drugs case.

Recently, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had dismissed Khaira’s plea on summoning him by the trial court.

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The trial court had issued fresh summons to Khaira on Thursday after the Punjab and Haryana High Court had dismissed his petition challenging the court’s previous summons.

The High Court, however, had quashed the non-bailable warrants against him.

Khaira, meanwhile, asked the high court to revive his 2015 petition demanding an independent investigation into the charges against him.

The Fazilka court had issued non-baliable warrants against Leader of Opposition Khaira and four others on November 1, a day after an alleged associate, Gurdev Singh, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on drug charges. Singh, a former chairman of Dilwan Market Committee, was among the nine people convicted in a 2015 trans-border drug smuggling case on October 31.

Khaira’s rivals have since been demanding his resignation. Khaira has denied all wrongdoing, claiming that he was a victim of political vendetta.