Badal protecting paper leakage mafia, allege Punjab ministers

Chandigarh, Jul 13 (UNI) A group of Punjab ministers today lashed out at Akali supremo Parkash Singh Badal alleging that he and his son Sukhbir Badal were protecting the mafia of the PMT paper leakage scam.

Ministers Partap Singh Bajwa, Sardool Singh, Ch. Jagjit Singh, Jasjit Singh Randhawa and Lal Singh, in a statement issued here, challenged Mr Badal and his son to come clean about ''their links with PMT paper leakage mafia'', whose members were recently nabbed by Chandigarh Police.

''The Badal duo have been playing with the careers of lakhs of meritorious students by providing protection to the members of PMT paper leakage mafia,'' they alleged.

It was unfortunate that the Badal family had stooped so low in their lust for money that they were not hesitating in spoiling the careers of deserving poor students, the ministers stated.

They said it was surprising that Mr Badal was maintaining a calculated studded silence on his association with ''main scamster' Devinder Singh Bhappu, a close associate of Mr Badal and the Fatehgarh Sahib district president of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).

Mr Badal had deliberately ignored the repeated pleas of some SAD leaders to expel Devinder Singh Bhappu and his associates from the party for their mafia activities, the ministers claimed.

The SAD Fatehgarh Sahib district unit was also silent on the issue after realising old deep association of these scamsters with the Badal family, they added.

The ministers said the PMT paper leakage mafia was getting more bold day by day because of ''the repeated protection provided by the Badals''.

They said that Bhappu, also a kingpin of CBSE paper leakage scam, had earlier been arrested by the Amritsar Police but got respite because of his right links with the Badal family.

''The time has come to expose the real face of the Badal family before the public who are playing with the career of meritorious students for the sake of ill-gotten money,'' they said.

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