Punjab cadre IAS officer, Sanjay Popli’s 27-year-old son, Kartik, died of bullet wounds on Saturday. Populi is currently under arrest in a graft case,
While the police said Kartik Popli, who was a lawyer, committed suicide, the family blamed the Vigilance Bureau’s pressure on the family over the graft case involving the officer for the incident.
The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), however, attributed it to Popli’s corruption which they say had an impact on his son. AAP Punjab chief spokesperson Malwinder Singh Kang said during the vigilance raids, gold, silver and cash worth crores of rupees were recovered from Popli’s house.
“The corruption of IAS officer Sanjay Popli had a bad effect on his son. All corrupt people need to learn a lesson from this incident. Corruption is ruining their families,” he added.
Kang slammed the Opposition for standing in favour of a corrupt officer. He advised Opposition parties against indulging in politics over the matter.
The Punjab Vigilance Bureau had arrested Popli on 21 June on a charge of demanding 1 percent commission as a bribe for clearance of tenders for laying a sewerage pipeline at Nawanshahr.
Popli’s wife alleged vigilance officials were pressuring the family and torturing domestic help to give false statements in support of the case they have registered. “My son is gone. He was a brilliant lawyer. They have snatched him. To build a false case, they snatched my son,” she said, showing blood spots of his son on her hands.
“I want justice. I will move court,” she asserted.
She further said her husband was due to appear before the court when a Vigilance team had visited their house. “The Vigilance people took Kartik upstairs and when I went up, they were mentally torturing my son,” she said, adding even their mobile phones were seized.