Officer Suicide Case: Case registered against three people including former Punjab Minister Bhullar and his father

Chandigarh, 22 March. Police have registered a case against former state minister Laljit Singh Bhullar in connection with the alleged suicide of a Warehousing Corporation official in Punjab. Officials gave this information on Sunday. Gagandeep Singh Randhawa, district manager of Punjab State Warehousing Corporation in Amritsar, allegedly committed suicide on Saturday. Police have also registered a case against Bhullar’s father Sukhdev Singh Bhullar and his personal assistant Dilbag Singh. An FIR has been registered in this case under sections 108 (abetment of suicide), 351 (3) (criminal intimidation) and 3 (5) (common intention) of the Indian Justice Code. The case was registered at Amritsar’s Ranjeet Avenue police station on Saturday night on the complaint of Randhawa’s wife Upinder Kaur.

Laljit Singh Bhullar had resigned from the state cabinet on Saturday. Amid allegations of abetting the officer’s suicide, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had asked Bhullar to step down. On Saturday, a video had surfaced on social media in which Randhawa can be heard saying that he has consumed poisonous substance. Randhawa had accused Bhullar of harassment in the video. Randhawa also had the additional charge of Patti. Randhawa was heard saying in the video, “Kha layi sulfas tuhade yaar ne. Minister Laljit Bhullar de dar ton. Hun nahi main bachna (Your friend has eaten sulfas, out of fear of Minister Laljit Bhullar. Now I will not save).” Bhullar, MLA from Patti in Tarn Taran district, termed the allegations against him baseless.

According to the FIR, Kaur said the Punjab State Warehousing Corporation had issued tenders for construction of new warehouses in several districts in October last year and Bhullar was among several people who had bid on a tender for construction of warehouses in Patti and Bhikhiwind in Tarn Taran by her father Sukhdev Singh Bhullar. Kaur said in her complaint that her husband had told her that she was being pressurized to give the tender to Bhullar’s father. She claimed that due to this pressure her husband would often break down and feel cornered.

Kaur said that her husband used to tell her that he could not go against the rules. Kaur alleged that after the tender for the warehouse was given to some other party, Bhullar became angry and started putting more pressure on her husband. He alleged that Bhullar used to call him through WhatsApp and threaten him with violence and asked him to cancel the tender and issue it in his father’s name. According to the FIR, on March 13, Bhullar called Randhawa to his residence in Patti and insulted and assaulted him. Kaur alleged that her husband was forced at gunpoint to confess that he had taken Rs 10 lakh for allotting the tender to some other party.

She said that due to this harassment, her husband consumed poison at 5.50 am on Saturday and recorded a video on social media before committing suicide. Mann had said on Saturday that he has directed the Chief Secretary to investigate the matter and has asked Bhullar to step down so that the investigation can be conducted impartially. Mann had said that no negligence would be tolerated in this matter and Bhullar’s transport and jail departments would be handed over to some other minister. After the video surfaced online, leaders of opposition parties criticized the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and demanded action against Bhullar.