They have been booked under the relevant sections of the IPC, the Disaster Management Act and the Epidemic Diseases Act, the police said. (Twitter@AshwaniSBJP)

Punjab BJP chief Ashwani Sharma and over 40 others have been booked for allegedly violating the Covid-19 guidelines, police said on Monday. Sharma and others have been accused of holding a political meeting at Ghartholi Mohalla on Sunday here.

They have been booked under the relevant sections of the IPC, the Disaster Management Act and the Epidemic Diseases Act, the police said. Photos of the political meeting went viral on social media, police said. SHO Mandeep Salgotra said that Vicky Rampal, an aide of Ashwani Sharma, had allegedly organised the political meeting at his ward in violation of the Covid-19 guidelines.

Desperate move to muffle voice: BJP

State BJP chief Ashwani Sharma dubbed the case against him as a “desperate move” of the ruling Congress to “muffle the voice of justice”.

Accusing CM Amarinder Singh of protecting the liquor mafia in the state, Sharma said that the biggest illicit liquor tragedy in the state was being hushed up in the investigative stage and justice was being denied to the families who lost their loved ones.

“Strangely workers of BJP are being implicated in false cases as the BJP is vocal in raising voice against the Congress government in the state for looting the state exchequer of Rs. 5600 crore revenue by letting the liquor mafia run riot in the state during lockdown. We ask the Chief Minister why the real culprits, who are his own party men, are not being booked when there is clinching evidence against them,” said Sharma in a statement released here.

(With inputs from PTI)