Chandigarh, June 14
After Narottam Singh Dhillon and Manjit Singh Gill, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau took in custody last night all five employees of Wimpy International, a company owned by London-based Kanwal Sidhu, also a close family friend of the former Punjab Chief Minister and the Shiromani Akali Dal President, Mr Parkash Singh Badal.
“They have sealed my office in Kailash Colony and the Wimpy outlet in Connaught Place in New Delhi. They have taken in custody our Vice-President, Yash Dhawan; Finance Director, R.K. Gupta; Deputy Manager (Finance) Sanjiv Kulshreshta, besides two drivers — Harjinder Singh and Devinder Singh. They are now trying to link me with Hardeep Singh, OSD to Mr Parkash Singh Badal,” said Mr Sidhu.
“How can they take my employees in custody and that too without informing the local police? What crime have they committed? Is it the way the Congress Government wants NRIs to come and get humiliated and harassed?” he asked.
“All of them have been taken to Punjab Bhavan in New Delhi and kept there. They may be formally arrested later and taken to Punjab,” apprehends Mr Kanwal Sidhu.
Mr Sidhu said if the Punjab Chief Minister was so clean let him clarify his position about the hotel he had started in Rome in partnership with a 'Princess' and also about the house he had purchased in Oxford, England.
Talking to The Tribune over the telephone from his London residence, Mr Sidhu said when he talked to the Lieut-Governor of Delhi, Mr Vijay Kapoor, and the Commissioner of Police of Delhi, Mr R.S. Gupta, to know about the details of the “raids on my office and my outlet in New Delhi, they expressed complete ignorance”.
“The Police Commissioner told me that this cannot happen as the Punjab Vigilance Bureau could neither take anyone in its custody nor make an arrest without informing the local police. But the reality is that all my men have been taken into custody and my offices have been sealed. Is this the way to handle an investigation in a civilised society?”
“It is no crime to be related or to be friendly with a politician. Now the present Congress Government has started devouring its own friends and well wishers. If I am associated with the family of Mr Parkash Singh Badal, then I also have affiliations with the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh.
“My total investments in India are a matter of public record. I started investing in India when a Pound Sterling was worth Rs 13. If the present government has any political vendetta against Mr Parkash Singh Badal,” it should not be taken out against relatives or friends of his family.
“Since Delhi too has a Congress Government, they have probably got our Connaught Place outlet sealed through the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC). This has been done with the intention of forcing me to come to New Delhi so that the Punjab Vigilance Bureau could harass and humiliate me, also”.
“Though capital punishment stands abolished the world over, the way the Punjab Government has been unleashing its draconian laws through its Vigilance Bureau, this is worse than capital punishment. Such actions of the government give an impression of a complete ‘jungle rule’ or ‘gunda raj’ prevalent in the state. What in the government is trying to prove by such actions? When the Punjab Vigilance Bureau officials went to my office and my business outlet in New Delhi, they called me anti-national. It is so humiliating that I
cannot take it any more.” “They are forcing people to make statements from the prepared texts given to them. This is no way to frame someone by extracting a statement from his relatives or friends. If Mr Badal has filed a defamation suit against the Chief Minister, let him fight it out in a civilised manner as per the Rule of the Law or law of the land.
“Such actions of the government signal the return of turbulence to the state. For the past four hours, I have been talking to all senior people in the Delhi Government and the police. They themselves are not aware of the illegal actions of the Punjab Vigilance Bureau,” said Mr Sidhu holding that “all the actions against me and my company are nothing more than an arm twisting tactic which does not behove government in a democracy. All civilised sections of the society must condemn this high-handedness of the Punjab
Government.”
Delhi Police orders probe
On a complaint filed on behalf of the Wimpy International against the action of the Punjab Vigilance Bureau in New Delhi, Mr Vivek Gogia, Deputy Commissioner of Police, has ordered an inquiry into the whole incident. Mr Sanjay Bhatia, Assistant Commissioner of Police, who has been asked to conduct the enquiry started his investigations immediately. Sources reveal that the Vigilance Bureau team has already whisked away the detained employees to Punjab.
Earlier, Mr R.K. Gosain, Senior Vice-President of the company, in his complaint alleged that all five employees of the company had been picked up from their respective residences. The vigilance men refused to disclose their identity and misbehaved with the family members of the employees, Mr Gosain said.
