Aulakh implicated at behest of Majithia, Ajnala Jr tells court
MOHALI : Former MLA and chief parliamentary secretary (CPS) Amarpal Singh ‘Bonny’ Ajnala on Wednesday told a Mohali court that his friend and businessman Maninder Singh alias Bittu Aulakh was implicated in the Bhola drug case at the behest of former Akali minister Bikram Singh Majithia.
Bonny Ajnala’s statement comes two days after he and his father Rattan Singh Ajnala, a veteran Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader, were expelled from the party. Rattan Ajnala is a fourtime MLA and two-time MP.
Bonny Ajnala, a two-time MLA from the Ajnala constituency and CPS in the SAD-BJP government formed in 2012, said, “Aulakh was implicated at the instance of Majithia as I had become his opponent within the party and Aulakh was supporting me.”
Majithia’s name had cropped up during the initial probe into the case after statements by Aulakh and Jagdish Bhola but police never questioned him.
The special task force (STF) in a status report sought by the Punjab and Haryana high court in February this year had submitted that Majithia’s role in the case needs to be probed as there is prima facie evidence against him.
“He (Aulakh) is my friend. We used to hold meetings at his hotel in Amritsar as SAD did not have any office there. In 2005, I introduced Aulakh to Majithia and they became good friends. Maninder was also helping Majithia in his election campaign. He had no links with any smuggler or bad elements. He was implicated to tarnish the image of our family and my friends,” Bonny told the court.
He said that after formation of the SAD government, differences between his family and Majithia grew. “He (Majithia) started sidelining our family as he could not do anything directly. He openly threatened Bittu leave our family or face dire consequences. This case was cited as a reason to deny parliamentary ticket to my father in 2014,” Bonny claimed.
‘PICKED FROM HOME, SHOWN AS ARRESTED FROM RAJPURA’
Bonny in his statement alleged that Bittu was picked by police from his Amritsar residence and shown to be arrested from Rajpura in Patiala.
“On November 12, 2013, a police team comprising DSP Balkar Singh and inspector Sukhwinder Singh picked Bittu from his residence at Rani ka Bagh in Amritsar. I went to his house after his wife called me.”
“I came to know that he was taken to Patiala. The then Patiala SSP Hardial Singh Mann told me that Bittu needs to be questioned with regards to his relationship with Jagjit Singh Chahal,” he further said.
“Later, on I came to know that police slapped a false case against Bittu by showing his arrest with 2kg pseudoephedrine. I had even met the then CM and his deputy seeking fair investigation into the case,” Bonny said.