Former Punjab Chief Minister and Congress leader Charanjit Singh Channi was on Friday questioned by the Vigilance Bureau in connection with a disproportionate assets case.
Speaking to reporters after the questioning that lasted for about seven hours, Channi termed the case against him “totally political”. He alleged the Aam Aadmi Party Government in the state was treating worse than even the Mughals.
“They (AAP) want to use every way to humiliate and defame. In democracy, this is not the way. They are building a case without any basis. I stand by what I said earlier in the morning at my press conference, they may do whatever they have to,” the former CM said.
Earlier this morning ahead of his appearance at Bureau’s Mohali office around 11 am, the Congress leader had slammed the state’s AAP government over his date of appearance being advanced and claimed that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s regime was indulging in “vendetta politics”.
“The probe is totally political. Let them do what they want.” Channi said adding he “may be tortured, arrested or even killed”, but he is prepared to face it.
The bureau had initially asked Channi to appear for questioning on 12 April. He, however, requested for another date to join the investigation, which the bureau allowed, asking him to appear on 20 April.. Later, the Vigilance Bureau advanced it to Friday.
The Bureau is probing if Channi assets are disproportionate to his known source of income. The Congress leader, however, rubbished that he had accumulated any disproportionate assets. “Hang me if even one person says Channi was indulging in any corrupt practice,” the former CM said breaking down in tears.
Channi said ahead of the Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll, he has raised some issues. He alleged that the AAP government has been rattled by the questions he raised including those relating to Dalits, “on what the chief minister said about Akal Takht Jathedar”, about justice in sacrilege cases and farmers’ issues.
“And when someone speaks the truth, the one who is a liar feels the pinch — that is what has happened with the AAP government,” he alleged.
Besides Channi, the bureau is also probing the assets of his brothers, family members and some close aides for allegedly possessing wealth more than their declared sources of income.
Earlier this year, Channi’s nephew Bhupinder Singh Honey was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate as part of its money-laundering investigation into alleged sand mining operations in Punjab.