Punjab police have arrested 25 people including the jail Superintendent for trespassing into Fazilka prison to allegedly meet inmate Shiv Lal Doda, considered to be close to Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal.
Disclosing this here today, ADGP (elections) H S Bhawra said that on the directions of the state Election Commission, surprise raid was conducted last night at Fazilka and Amritsar jails.
"During the checking police arrested 25 people," he said, adding that Fazilka jail SP Jashandeep Singh has also been suspended.
The Election Commission had directed the home department to conduct a probe into the matter and submit it's report within four weeks.
Bhawra said that during checking police found 24 people holding a meeting inside the visitor's meeting room of the jail with Doda, a liquor baron.
Police also seized Rs 3.28 lakh, some mobile phones and impounded seven vehicles, he said.
Doda and his nephew Amit are facing charges of criminal conspiracy and murder for allegedly killing a Dalit youth named Bhim Tank last year.
Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party accused the SAD-BJP government for mounting atrocities on Dalits and shielding the culprits.
State party convener Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi took serious note of the arrest and slammed the state government over it.
He said that Fazilka jail incident is an eye opener of SAD patronage of culprits.
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal who was considered close to Doda had tried to protect him in the Bhim Tank murder case and a case of murder was registered only after the Dalit community protested on streets, Ghuggi said.
SAD had promoted the anti-Dalit sentiment in Punjab during its ten year rule. The Dalits in Punjab lived on margin all that years even as fate of farmers is not different, he said.
State Congress chief Amarinder Singh demanded immediate dismissal of the Badal government, saying it had been completely exposed in the Fazilka jail incident, where a known henchman of Home Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal was caught holding a kangaroo court on yesterday along with two dozen other Akali-linked criminals.
Lashing out at the "brazen display of money and muscle power and the complete breakdown of the law and order" in the state, Amarinder demanded imposition of President's Rule to hold free and fair elections in the state.
The incident has thoroughly exposed the complicity of the Badal family and their associates in the rampant crime mafia in the state, he said.
"It is important to find out how all that money and weapons entered the jail premises," he asked.
It could not have been done without involvement from the highest levels in the government, Amarinder alleged.
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