SAD says Bhikhi block samiti money snatcher is Congressman, joined Cong in Capt’s presence in 2016

Shahkot: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Friday said that Bhikhi block samiti president Pargat Singh, who was arrested while trying to escape after snatching Rs three lakh from a farmer a day before, was a Congress man.

Pargat had joined the Congress on August 23, 2016, in the presence of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, said the former minister and SAD spokesman Maheshinder Singh Grewal.

Grewal said that the Congress government had mischievously released details of Pargat’s arrest and branded him as Akali to take mileage in Shahkot assembly election. “It seems the media was also misled and unsuspectingly fell prey to this falsification because it did not verify the facts,” he said.

SAD spokesman said that the truth was that Pargat joined the Congress and this event was covered widely by the media. “Now when the facts of the case have been made clear, the entire issue should be clarified and those spreading such misinformation should be exposed and booked,” he said.

Grewal said that while Congressman Pargat Singh had been arrested while snatching Rs three lakh in Shahkot, no action had been taken against Congress by-poll candidate Hardev Singh Laadi against whom conclusive proof of extortion and illegal mining was available in the form of a sting operation.

He said that this was indicative of the Congress party’s stand on a heinous crime like extortion as well as the encouragement it was giving to the sand mafia in the State.