Lakha Sidhana, 42, Gangster-turned-politician

Gangster-turned-politician and social activist, Lakhbir Singh aks Lakha Sidhana, has always remained in controversies even after he reportedly distanced himself from the unlawful activities. A kabaddi player when he was young, Sidhana, who is still facing more than ten cases of different nature, including murder, hails from Rampura-phull of Bathinda district and he first shot into the limelight as a muscle-man of local prominent SAD leader. After registration of a few FIRS related to land grabbing, Sidhana aligned with some known gangsters and entered the world of crime. He went to jail and when he was out on bail, he joined Manpreet Singh Badal’s now defunct People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) and unsuccessfully contested 2012 assembly polls. He is also being accused of leaking information of gangsters once he broke bread with to the police, the charges which he had denied in various interviews. He was recently accused by SAD leader Parmbans Bunty Romana of assisting killing of a co-villager. In 2019, Sidhana came to the limelight when he met jails minister Sukhjinder Randhawa to give suggestions on how to improve prison functioning, the development that caused embarrassment to the Captain Amarinder Singh government. Some Punjab based web-channels had been covering Sidhana from farmer’s protest site at Singhu on daily basis, but he was never a favourite of farmer leaders and was seldom allowed to speak from the dais.