Ropar: A local court today (Nov 22) issued summons to former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and three others for December 1 following the filing of chargesheet against them in the disproportionate assets case.

Special Judge S K Goyal issued the summons this afternoon after the 86-page chargesheet filed by Punjab Vigilance Bureau in the court of District and Sessions Judge Inderjeet Singh was referred to him for further action.

Summons have been issued to Parkash Singh Badal, his wife Surender Kaur, son Sukhbir and their Non- Resident Indian (NRI) relative Narrottam Singh Dhillon.

The two other accused named in the chargesheet – Harbans Lal, a manager of Badal family and Jagnandan Singh, their associate - are already in judicial custody, which also ends on December 1.

The chargesheet filed after months of investigations following a complaint of one Balwant Singh, a resident of Dhalewan village of Mansa district, said investigations disclosed that alleged disproportionate assets worth Rs 78.39 crore were secured during the five year tenure of the SAD (Shiromani Akali Dal)- BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) alliance Government headed by Badal.

They have been accused of "illegally accumulating assets massively disproportionate to their collective known sources of income" and charged under various sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) including fraud, forgery, conspiracy, tampering with documents and under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Meanwhile, Badal termed the chargesheet as "a bundle of lies", and alleged the "drama" was enacted at the behest of the Congress high command which had been according step-motherly treatment to the Sikhs and Punjab.

The chargesheet filed in a Ropar court was a "political" chargesheet against him and his family at the instance of Congress president Sonia Gandhi who was remote-controlling the party-led Amarinder Singh Government in the State, Badal alleged at a crowded press conference.

"The chargesheet was a drama enacted at the behest of Congress high command," he said.

Alleging that Congress had been giving step-motherly treatment to Punjab and Sikhs, he said the party never considered Sikhs as patriots and treated them as criminals whereas the community was always patriotic and played important role in all freedom struggles. The Sikhs would not tolerate this, Badal added.

He said "the Vigilance Bureau chargesheet is nothing but a bundle of lies" and challenged that he would accept all charges against him if the Bureau proved the allegation that 10,000 acres of land in Rajasthan belonged to him.

Charging that the Bureau had been harassing Akali leaders by involving them in false cases, Badal said he was happy that the matter was in court and expressed confidence that he would get justice. Badal said he would appear before the court when he was summoned.

PTI