The Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab government on Thursday told the Punjab and Haryana high court that the security cover to all 424 people was removed “temporarily” for the Amritsar ghalughara event and it will be restored from June 7.Last week, the security of these people was either withdrawn or curtailed by the Punjab Police. It included Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, known as Sidhu Moosewala, who was shot dead on Sunday by unidentified assailants in Punjab’s Mansa district.
Earlier on May 30, the high court asked the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab to explain on what basis it had withdrawn the security of several protectees in the state and how had their identity had been disclosed in public.
Justice Raj Mohan Singh of the HC has passed these orders while hearing a plea by former deputy chief minister, OP Soni, against the withdrawal of his security cover by the Punjab government.
The HC had asked the state government to submit a report on the issue in a sealed cover by June 2.
“Punjab government presented their report on the number of people whose security was taken and reason for which their security was curtailed in a sealed envelope. They did not have central government’s reports on this and have asked for more time,” advocate Madhu Dayal, counsel to Soni, told reporters.
The advocate further said that the state government told the court that the “security has been taken temporarily for the Amritsar ghalughara event and it will be reinstated by June 7. It added they will mark responsibility for person who made list of people whose security was degraded public.”
Hearing the case on the day, the court again sought to know how information regarding the removal of security cover came out in the public domain,
Earlier in the day, the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed a petition of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi who was seeking appropriate directions for not handing over his custody to the Punjab police in the singer Sidhu Moose Wala murder case.
Bishnoi, who is suspected to be involved in Moosewala’s killing, had moved the high court on Wednesday after withdrawing his plea from the Delhi High Court in which he had sought necessary safeguards as he apprehended a “fake encounter” by the Punjab Police.
