Chandigarh, March 23 Laljit Singh Bhullar, a former Punjab minister and AAP MLA, who is accused of abetting the suicide of a state warehousing corporation official, was arrested on Monday, according to police.
Bhullar was arrested in Mandi Gobindgarh in Fatehgarh Sahib district, a police official told reporters in Amritsar.
The police said Bhullar was being brought from Mandi Gobindgarh to Amritsar.
Bhullar will be produced before a court on Tuesday, according to the police.
Gagandeep Singh Randhawa, the district manager of Punjab State Warehousing Corporation in Amritsar, allegedly committed suicide by consuming poison early Saturday. A video surfaced in which he purportedly claimed to have been harassed by Bhullar, who subsequently resigned as minister at the direction of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
The Amritsar police booked Bhullar, his father Sukhdev Singh Bhullar, and personal assistant Dilbag Singh under Sections 108 (abetment of suicide), 351 (3) (criminal intimidation), and 3 (5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Meanwhile, Mann asserted that strict action will be taken regardless of any position he holds if anyone violates the law.
"For me, the entire Punjab is one family. If anyone in Punjab violates the law, strict action will be taken against him, no matter what position he holds or whether he is a relative or an influential person. Protecting anyone is not our party's agenda," said Mann in a post on X.
Bhullar, however, said he was surrendering in Mandi Gobindgarh and also dismissed rumors that he had run away.
"Rumors were being spread that I had run away; there is no truth to it. I will never run from the truth."
"I have full faith in the law of the country and also have unshakable faith in the justice system. I have not run away anywhere, I am in my Punjab. Believing in truth and justice, I am surrendering myself at Mandi Gobindgarh," Bhullar said in a Facebook post.
Earlier in the day, Randhawa's family issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the Punjab government to arrest him.
Randhawa's family had said that they would not allow a post-mortem examination and cremation until Bhullar was arrested.
Speaking to the media in Amritsar earlier on Monday, Randhawa's family expressed displeasure over Bhullar not being arrested and demanded that he be arrested at the earliest.
"It is my ultimatum that if nothing is done within 24 hours, then I, along with my children (two daughters and a son), will come on the roads," said Randhawa's wife Upinder Kaur, who is a science teacher.
A purported CCTV footage surfaced on social media on Monday, showing Randhawa consuming a poisonous substance.
The opposition parties have already turned the heat on the AAP government, demanding the arrest of the former minister.
A video surfaced on social media on Saturday in which Randhawa, who held the additional charge of Patti, was purportedly heard saying that he had consumed a poisonous substance and accused the transport minister of harassment.
"Kha layi 'celphos' tuhade yaar ne. Minister Laljit Bhullar de dar ton. Hun nahi main bachda," (Your friend has eaten celphos because of fear of minister Laljit Bhullar. I will not survive now)," Randhawa had said.
In her complaint lodged with the police, Randhawa's wife Kaur claimed that her husband was constantly pressurised to allot a warehouse tender to Bhullar's father and had even threatened to harm him and his family.
Kaur, in her complaint, which is part of the FIR, said her husband told her that he was continuously being pressurised to get the tender approved in the name of Bhullar's father under any circumstances.
Bhullar, his father Sukhdev Singh Bhullar and his PA Dilbagh Singh allegedly threatened that if the tender was not approved in the name of Sukhdev Singh Bhullar, then Randhawa and his family would have to face the consequences, Randhawa's wife Kaur said in her complaint.
According to the FIR, Randhawa was called to Bhullar's residence on March 13 in Patti, where he was allegedly humiliated and assaulted.
Her husband, at gunpoint, was forced to admit that he took Rs 10 lakh for allotting the warehouse tender to another party, Kaur alleged in her complaint.
Bhullar, the MLA from Patti in Tarn Taran, rejected the allegations against him as baseless.
On Saturday, CM Mann said he had directed the chief secretary to conduct an impartial probe into the matter and asked the minister to step down for a fair probe.