The suicide of a Punjab warehousing official has snowballed into a political flashpoint, with Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday offering a CBI probe into the matter if all MPs from the state submit a written request.
Former transport minister and Patti AAP MLA Laljit Singh Bhullar, who has been booked for abetment of suicide and criminal intimidation, after the death of a Punjab warehousing corporation official, Gagandeep Singh Randhawa, on Saturday.
The development came as the family of the deceased officer, Gagandeep Singh Randhawa, issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the Punjab government to arrest former transport minister and Patti AAP MLA Laljit Singh Bhullar. Randhawa, the Amritsar district manager of the Punjab State Warehousing Corporation, allegedly consumed poison on Saturday after accusing Bhullar and his associates of relentless harassment over a warehouse tender.
Bhullar resigned from the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) cabinet on Saturday after the chief minister ordered an impartial probe into the allegations.
Political heat in Parliament
The issue resonated in the Lok Sabha on Monday when Amritsar Congress MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla raised the matter, cornering the AAP government in Punjab and alleging that honest officers were being driven to the brink.
As the home minister was preparing to leave the House, Aujla intercepted him and raised the tragedy. In a swift intervention, Shah responded that he was ready to immediately order a CBI inquiry into the official’s death, provided all Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs from Punjab submit a joint, written request to his office.
Randhawa’s death has sparked fresh friction between the ruling AAP in Punjab and the opposition Congress, which has accused the state machinery of shielding the former minister.
Family’s 24-hour ultimatum
Randhawa, who also held additional charge of Patti, allegedly filmed a video before his death where he stated in Punjabi, “Your friend has eaten Celphos because of fear of minister Laljit Bhullar. I will not survive now.” Subsequent CCTV footage also purportedly captured him consuming the substance.
The Punjab Police registered an FIR against Bhullar, his father Sukhdev Singh Bhullar, and personal assistant Dilbag Singh under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for abetment of suicide and criminal intimidation. According to the complaint filed by Randhawa’s wife, Upinder Kaur, the officer was being blackmailed into skewing a warehouse tender in favour of the former minister’s father.
Upinder Kaur alleged that her husband was relentlessly threatened to approve a warehouse tender in the name of the former minister’s father.
On March 13, Randhawa was allegedly summoned to Bhullar’s Patti residence, assaulted, and forced at gunpoint to sign a false confession claiming he took a ₹10 lakh bribe to favour another party.
Refusing to allow a post-mortem or cremation, Upinder Kaur on Monday issued a 24-hour deadline for the arrests. “If nothing is done within 24 hours, then I, along with my children, will take to the streets,” she told reporters in Amritsar.
Bhullar has rejected the allegations as baseless, while CM Mann maintains the resignation was sought to ensure an impartial investigation.
The incident puts the ruling AAP in Punjab on the back foot regarding its anti-corruption and governance track record. With the Union home ministry now opening the door for a CBI intervention, the pressure on the state police to act against the former minister has increased.
