BJP MLA met tainted cop Inderjeet: Joginder Singh Mann

PHAGWARA: Levelling serious allegations against Phagwara BJP MLA Som Parkash, ex-Punjab minister and district Congress Committee, Kapurthala, president Joginder Singh Mann has alleged that the former met Punjab Police inspector Inderjeet Singh, now dismissed when the STF had brought him to Phagwara after his arrest. He has also alleged that Parkash was worried after cops nabbed Inderjeet.
However, Som Parkash has refuted the accusations adding Mann was speaking out of frustration and he is even considering suing him for defamation. Addressing a press conference here, Mann alleged that Som Parkash and local BJP leader Inderjit Khalayan went to meet the disgraced cop at the DSP office and police quarters when he was brought there for search of his second residential quarter here. “BJP MLA’s anxiety to meet his protégé has vindicated our stand that the drug mafia bloomed in Phagwara under his patronage,” he alleged.
He also urged the STF to conduct a probe into the financial transactions made by Som in benami deals. He said in the last five years, Phagwara has been turned into a ‘haven of drug peddlers. “It was an open secret that during the previous government SHOs were appointed on recommendations of the MLA. Inderjeet remained posted in Phagwara for around two years as per the wishes of the local MLA. In a rare instance Inderjeet was given charge of CIA staff and Rawalpindi police station,” he alleged.
When contacted Som Parkash said that he was on his way to attend a cremation in Phagwara when Inderjit Khalyan received a call from the police officials who asked him to come to the DSP office. “I called up the SSP Kapurthala who said that there was nothing serious as STF wanted to get Khalayan’s signature as a testimony that he had been informed about the cop’s arrest as he knew him. As we were in the same vehicle, Khalayan asked me to accompany him to the DSP office. Khalayan signed the required papers and we returned within 4-5 minutes. There was no question of meeting the arrested cop and these allegations are result of frustration as I spoke out against Mann’s interference in local administration,” BJP MLA said. Khalayan is a former Mandal president of BJP.