Chandigarh, July 4: Copy-paste and a new case — this is what Vijay Kumar of Faridkot district has alleged in his petition filed before the Punjab and Haryana High Court against former MLA Deep Malhotra, Inspector-General of Police MS Cheena and two other police officers.
Claiming to be involved in liquor trade, Vijay Kumar submitted that Malhotra was a successful bidder for liquor shops in all groups in Bathinda except one which went to him (petitioner) following which 11 cases were slapped against him and his family.
“The perusal of the FIRs would show that all the cases were registered on the basis of secret information and the story in all the FIRs was almost the same,” his counsel Abhinav Gupta asserted on his behalf.
Taking up the petition on Tuesday, Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan issued a notice of motion to Malhotra, Cheena, Senior Superintendent of Police Naveen Singla along with an Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police. Justice Sangwan also fixed the case for the first week of September.
Going into the background of the matter, Gupta asserted Malhotra enjoyed monopoly in Bathinda district. Out of 36 groups, he was allotted 35, while the petitioner was granted a single group.
Gupta added that the petitioner commenced his business of selling liquor, unaware of the fact that he became an eyesore for Malhotra, who exercised influence over the local police as he was having cozy relations with senior officials. In order to grab business in all 36 liquor zones in the district, he started harassing the petitioner in one manner or the other.
When the petitioner showed his reluctance and resistance to Malhotra’s “illegal demand”, he started threatening the petitioner with implicating his family in false cases. As the petitioner did not succumb to the pressure exerted by respondent Malhotra, he got a number of FIRs registered against him and his family.
Gupta added that Malhotra was able to lodge FIRs against the petitioner and his family with the help of the police. Mostly, the allegations were with regard to smuggling of liquor from Haryana, even though some of them had nothing to do with the business. They were not even having liquor vend in Haryana. The allegations, as such, were apparently farfetched.
Gupta also submitted that the authority and privilege of the police to register an FIR on the basis of secret information was to build trust and faith in the police that they would protect the information provider. It was not blind and absolute power allowed to be misused and abused by the police authorities working for extraneous factors and for political patronages, he added.
Source Tribune India
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