Cop-turned-AAP MLA fires salvo at own government over Amritsar hooch tragedy
Taking cognisance of the Majitha hooch tragedy that claimed 24 lives, AAP MLA (Amritsar North) Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh has triggered a salvo at his own government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, alleging it had failed to curb the politico-police-liquor mafia nexus.
While recalling the 2020 hooch tragedy that led to over 120 deaths in the Majha region during the Congress regime led by Capt Amarinder Singh, Kunwar pointed out that Mann had then held the then Chief Minister responsible and demanded that a ‘murder’ case be registered against him.
“Live up to your own words now,” he said, while asserting that he had evidence of Mann’s statement in this regard then.
Exposing the easy availability of toxic alcohol through a well-organised network, Kunwar also recalled a similar tragedy that occurred in Sangrur district, the home district of Mann. In March 2024, about 20 persons died after consuming spurious liquor in Sangrur. In both cases, the accused are under trial to date.
Kunwar visited Bhangali village in the Majitha area of Amritsar district where 24 persons lost their lives and several others are under treatment at a government hospital after consuming illicit liquor.
Showing dissatisfaction with the action, he said that mere suspension of lower-rung police officers would not yield any result and demanded stern action.
“Suspending DSP or SHO-level officers will not work. The action has to be taken up to the DIG level. The same DIG was the former SSP (rural) and the mafia, be it that of liquor or sand, continued to prosper. The suspension of police officers was just an eyewash exercise. After a year or so, the same officers come back to the same positions only to patronise the mafia,” he alleged.
Taking a dig at the government’s move to distribute compensatory cheques to the victims’ families, he said, “It had happened
The AAP’s once poster boy during 2022 elections campaign in the state, he said that when he had quit the police job to join AAP in 2021, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal had then stated, “We now have officers like Kunwar Vijya Partap with us and now there will be no place for gangsters and mafias…
“But, in contrast, the mafia-police nexus has had a free run under this government. Rather, they have been inducted by the government to run the show,” he said.
Kunwar said that this menace needed a serious discussion. “I will draw the attention of the Speaker to hold a special session in the Vidhan Sabha on it so that the root cause could be identified,” he said, while reiterating that action should be devised in such a manner that politico-police-mafia nexus is busted.
Amritsar