Without seeing file, can't say if inquiry was marked: Navjot Singh Sidhu

Legal Correspondent

Ludhiana, November 4

The testimony of former Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu was recorded here today via video-conferencing in a case filed by former DSP Balwinder Singh Sekhon against former Food and Civil Supplies Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu on charges of extending threats and causing obstruction in official duty.

Summoned in case of obstructing duty

• Navjot Singh Sidhu was summoned as a witness by the complainant, ex-DSP Balwinder Singh Sekhon, to prove that during his tenure as a Congress minister, he marked an inquiry to the complainant relating to the change of land use in the Grand Manor Project in Ludhiana
• In its complaint, the former DSP has alleged that during the inquiry being conducted by him, Food & Civil Supplies Minister Bharat Bhushan had threatened him via a call and had, thus, caused obstruction to his official duty

Chief Judicial Magistrate Sumit Makkar recorded Sidhu’s evidence in the video-conference room set up at the local court complex following the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The proceedings took place for about half an hour. Sidhu was answering questions from the Patiala Central Jail, where he is presently lodged in a road rage incident.

Sidhu expressed ignorance about the marking of inquiry to the complainant and the loss of file in his office pertaining to the Grand Manor project at Ludhiana.

“Thousands of file were received in the Local Bodies Department I was heading as a Cabinet Minister and several enquiries were marked in different matters, but I can’t comment without seeing the original file if any such inquiry was marked,” said Sidhu while replying to the questions put to him by the lawyer of the complainant.

Sidhu also denied that he ever instructed the complainant to meet a senior lawyer of the high court or ever accompanied him to meet that lawyer.

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