Bhagwanpuria not victim of political rivalry, cops tell HC

Chandigarh, March 4

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Just about three months after gangster Jaggu Bhagwanpuria claimed he was being made a scapegoat following political rivalry brewing between former Akali minister Bikram Singh Majithia and Jails Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, the Punjab Police today refuted his claims.

In a report submitted before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the police asserted: “It is wrong and denied that the petitioner is being made a scapegoat on account of political rivalry. The contents of a para (in his petition) insofar as it refers to political parties and persons or ministers are wrong and hence vehemently denied.”

Describing him as a notorious and dreaded gangster with criminal background, the police also claimed 58 criminal cases had been registered against him at different police stations. He was also involved in smuggling of narcotics and psychotropic substances.

The HC was also told the motive behind plea to transfer him to Amritsar jail was to establish contact with his accomplices. Before his arrest, he was operating in Amritsar and Gurdaspur, where a large number of criminal cases are registered against him.

He had moved the HC in December last year, maintaining that he was nobody’s man and expressing apprehension of being killed in a fake encounter or in the prison.

His counsel Pradeep Virk had contented that the petitioner was not linked to any party and was being used for the “realisation of political motives of certain individuals”. — TNS