Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Pargat Singh and state party in-charge Sachin Pilot on Sunday visited families affected by gangster violence and drugs in Nakodar and Shahkot in Jalandhar, and Hoshiarpur, questioning law enforcement agencies and claiming that a nexus between gangsters, drug peddlers, and a section of the police has endangered public safety.
In Hoshiarpur, they met the family of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) worker and hardware trader Balwinder Singh, who was shot dead in January this year in Miani village in a gang-related extortion incident.
Talking to mediapersons, Pilot said Balwinder’s murder had exposed a troubling truth that “criminal networks could influence police investigation and both could intimidate and exploit the common man”.
“Despite the Aam Aadmi Party government’s claims of eliminating gangsterism, people continue to receive extortion calls. The victims are being threatened and intimidated, and pressure is being exerted on them to withdraw their cases. He stated that the police officer responsible for bringing justice to the grieving family had instead partnered with gangsters to extort money. He added that if the US Federal Bureau of Investigation had not exposed the station house officer’s ties to the criminals, the officer would still be walking free and exploiting other innocent people.
Nothing could be more unfortunate than victim families losing hope of ever receiving justice,” they said. Pilot said that the law-and-order situation in Punjab had become “alarming”. This situation is not only “distressing for the victim families but also poses a grave threat to Punjab’s future”, he added.
