Central panel visits Amritsar over vandalising of statue
A Centre Government panel arrived here on Sunday to look into the case of recent vandalism of Dr BR Ambedkar’s statue at Heritage Street. It recommended a probe by a central investigation team.
The panel included former UP Police DGP and Rajya Sabha member Brij Lal, SC Morcha national president Lal Singh, former minister Som Parkash, national spokesperson Gurparkash Paswan, UP minister Aseem Arun and Banto Kataria.
Questioning the deteriorating law and order situation, Brij Lal said there seemed to be a deep-rooted conspiracy behind the incident that occurred on Republic Day when the police and administration were already on high alert. He said the incident must be investigated by a central agency. International anti-national elements might be behind the incident, he added.
The lackadaisical attitude of AAP pointed towards its patronage to terror elements, he said. “I will term the AAP government in Punjab honest only if CM Bhagwant Mann and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal take the first initiative of writing to the Centre, seeking a CBI or NIA probe into the incident to expose international terror links,” he said.
“An investigating agency should be roped in to trace the culprit’s links minutely. The deplorable law and order situation can be gauged from the fact that the incident was executed in broad daylight. The dubious background of the culprit and his Dubai connections have to be thoroughly investigated,” he said.