SAD condemns registration of another ‘false’ case against party leader Vardev Mann, kin

Ahead of the rural polls, another case was registered against Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Vardev Singh Mann and his kin. SAD claimed it was done at the behest of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to prevent their candidates from contesting the Zila Parishad elections.

Addressing a press conference here, the party’s Legal Cell chief Arshdeep Singh Kler said that among those named in the FIR were Vardev Singh Mann; his brothers Nardev Singh Mann and Gursewak Singh Mann; a relative Harman; the party’s Zila Parishad election candidate Harbhinder Singh; and PA Manish.

“It is shocking that this new case has been registered without informing the high court. This blatantly false FIR was being used to prevent the Mann family from contesting the Zila Parishad and Block Samiti elections. Even the earlier case registered against Vardev and Nardev was frivolous,” he said.

“The Mann brothers were accused of entering the block development officer’s room in Jalalabad and indulging in firing. The government could not produce any CCTV footage of the incident and even the forensic laboratory reportedly said that no licensed weapon had been used in this purported incident,” he added.

Asserting that all these false cases were being filed at the instance of a legislator of AAP, the SAD leader said just in the case of Kanchanpreet Kaur, the SAD would take up the false case registered against the Mann brothers as well as their relatives and the party’s Zila Parishad candidate in the high court. “We are hopeful of securing justice in this case also,” he said.

Asserting that all these false cases were being filed at the instance of a legislator from AAP, the SAD leader said that, just as in the Kanchanpreet Kaur case, the party would challenge the false case registered against the Mann brothers, their relatives and the party’s Zila Parishad candidate in the High Court. “We are hopeful of securing justice in this case too,” he said.

When asked about claims by Tarn Taran SP (Investigation) Riputapan Singh that there was ample evidence of Kanchanpreet’s involvement in the criminal syndicate allegedly run by her Canada‑based husband, Kler responded: “If that was the case, then why did the police fail to prove it during trial — in the presence of two senior judicial officers appointed by the state government to argue the case — yet the court ordered her release on the basis of merits only. These false cases are being registered against SAD workers out of political vendetta by the AAP government.”

On the other hand, SP Riputapan Singh had stated that police have sufficient evidence in investigation for appeal as per law. “After the legal scrutiny of the court order, the case will be taken up further in the higher court,” he said.