Jalandhar, May 11: A week after he lodged an FIR against Congress candidate for Shahkot bypoll Hardev Singh Laddi Sherowalia, Mehatpur SHO Parminder Bajwa was arrested amid high drama at the district courts on Friday.
Bajwa has been booked under Sections 353 and 186 of the IPC for allegedly obstructing the court security staff from discharging their duties and under Section 27 of the Arms Act. He was produced before the duty magistrate, which sent him to a 14-day judicial remand.
Bajwa, who was in a different look with his beard shaved, a cloth around his head and wearing shorts with slippers, walked inside the complex. The court security told him to stop since he was not wearing proper clothes.
Head Constable Kuldeep Singh, who was on duty at the entrance, said: “We could not recognise him. When asked to stop, he hurriedly went inside. By the time we could apprehend him, he went straight to the witness box of District and Sessions Judge SK Garg. He showed the judge his personal revolver and complained about the security lapse.
“He refused to hand over the revolver to us saying that we are far junior to him. SHO Basti Bawa Khel Sukhwinder Singh, who too was on court security, and senior police officers reached there and Bajwa was made to hand over his weapon.”
Bajwa said he had come to the court to seek securityas he felt unsafe even from his seniors. But the court told him to go to the High Court. He later told the media: “No one is protecting me due to pressure from the CM and senior cops.”
Bajwa, who was putting up in a hotel across the complex, was walking out of the court when SHO New Baradari Balbir Singh held him and asked him to accompany him to the police station. Bajwa and his lawyers exchanged arguments with cops, but he was taken away in a police vehicle. His lawyer Sandeep Sharma claimed that Bajwa did not indulge in any illegal act.
During his medical examination at the Civil Hospital, he told the media: “I was in the hotel when I got information that cops were coming to arrest me. I thus chose to rush to the courts to seek protection. I myself surrendered my weapon before the judge.”
Jalandhar Police Commissioner Praveen Sinha said: “As Bajwa appeared before the duty magistrate, his relatives and lawyers stated he be given a psychiatric treatment instead of being sent to jail. The magistrate said the call on this would be taken by the doctor at Kapurthala Modern Jail.”
Following Parminder’s arrest, the EC on Friday appointed Inspector Hardeep Singh as Mehatpur SHO. Inspector Hardeep Singh was serving at Maloud police station in Khanna district. He has been asked by Punjab CEO S Karuna Raju to take charge immediately.
