Punjab MP Randhawa alleges death threat to son by jailed gangster Jaggu Bhagwanpuria   

Senior Congress leader in Punjab Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa has alleged that jailed gangster Jaggu Bhagwanpuria has threatened to kill his son. The Congress MP from Punjab's Gurdaspur said that he had brought the matter to the notice of Punjab DGP.

In a post on X, Randhawa claimed that the incident happened on Thursday. "Jailed gangster Jaggu Bhagwanpuriya has threatened to kill my son. One of my associates met my son and within one hour of leaving, he was fired upon today,” he said in the post.

Randhawa, who is in the national capital for the Parliament's Monsoon Session, further wrote: "Bhagwant Mann and Arvind Kejriwal have turned Punjab into a gangster's paradise where law and order has totally collapsed.” "I am in Delhi for the Parliament session. No gangster can shake me!” he said in the X post.

In March, Jaggu Bhagwanpuria was detained by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) under the PIT-NDPS Act and shifted from central jail in Bathinda to Assam's Silchar jail. Bhagwanpuria was already in the custody of the Punjab Police in the 2022 singer Sidhu Moosewala murder case. Besides, he faces several other cases.

Meanwhile, AAP spokesperson Neel Garg said Randhawa should give full details of the incident so that the matter could be investigated.

When contacted, Randhawa, over phone on Friday, said one of his (Randhawa's) associates from Gurdaspur's Fatehgarh Churian and a few more party supporters had come to meet his son in his office on Thursday. "When he (associate) returned, immediately a firing incident took place at his turban shop in Fatehgarh Churian (in which no one was injured)," Randhawa said, adding he has brought the matter to the notice of the Punjab DGP. He alleged that even from inside the prison, Bhagwanpuria was threatening people and the MP's associate had also stated that he, too, received one such call. "After the firing incident on Thursday evening, one person repeatedly wrote objectionable comments on my son's social media post," the MP said.

AAP spokesperson Garg claimed that everyone knew that gangsters got patronage under previous Congress governments. "The AAP government has zero tolerance towards gangsterism. We don't spare anyone who tries to disturb law and order in the state. Ever since AAP came to power, we have put several gangsters behind the bars and even attached their properties," Garg said.

Hitting out at the AAP government, Randhawa asked, "Where is their intelligence, where is their cyber crime. If a common individual posts his status with a gun in his hand, they act immediately and arrest that individual. And those who are openly threatening, what action is being taken.” "Threats did not deter us even during terrorism days. We are not scared of threats. But my worry is where Punjab's law and order situation stands today,” he asked.

Alleging that law and order has collapsed in Punjab, Randhawa alleged, "Recently, we saw how a prominent businessman was shot dead in broad daylight outside his showroom. There have been several other serious incidents of crime. What is the situation today?”

Referring to the recent killing of the jailed gangster's mother and another person accompanying her in Punjab's Batala, Randhawa said an MLA of ruling AAP said, "The killing of Bhagwanpuria's mother was not a murder, but a political murder. The police should have taken his statement and questioned him about how it was a political murder."

"What are the police doing?... Many times I have brought to the notice of the senior police officers the matter pertaining to involvement of a cop's nexus with gangsters, which is a threat to national security, but no action has been taken in the matter,” he said.

Reacting to Randhawa's allegations, Leader of Opposition in Punjab and senior Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa said, "A jailed gangster openly threatening a senior INC leader, former Deputy CM, and sitting MP — this is not just a law and order failure, it's a damning indictment of the complete collapse of governance under Bhagwant Mann and Arvind Kejriwal.”

"If gangsters can intimidate elected representatives from behind the bars, what chance does the common man in Punjab stand? Is this the "badlav" AAP promised a state where criminals rule and citizens live in fear?" Bajwa said in a post on X on Friday.

Bajwa alleged that the AAP government had reduced Punjab to a playground for gangsters, "while Kejriwal remains busy marketing false narratives. The truth is clear: under AAP, Punjab has become lawless”.

Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said, "A gangster has the audacity to threaten a senior INC leader… from inside the jail!...Imagine the plight of the common people in Punjab. This reflects the complete collapse of law and order in Punjab….”