Chandigarh: Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar on Monday wrote to chief minister Bhagwant Mann stating that it is imperative to ‘follow the money’ to track-down the powerful end-beneficiaries in the drug money trail if the state Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government wants to establish its credibility and resolve to uproot the drug mafia from Punjab.
Jakhar also urged Mann to seek the intervention of the Punjab and Haryana High Court chief justice Sheel Nagu for setting up an appropriate 'time-bound' probe by a credible agency, or even a multi-agency probe, under the supervision of the chief justice to uncover the end beneficiaries in the drug money trail.
“Arresting thousands of drug addicts and small players won’t make any difference to root out the drug menace. The flow of money has to be established to catch the big fish and arrest the end-beneficiaries, be it politicians across party lines or officials. Without this, the government’s claim in its fight against drugs in Punjab remains a farce,” Jakhar said.
He said the recovery of narcotics in Punjab goes into several thousands of crores of rupees which underlies the rot that exists. At the same time the fortunes of so many Punjab politicians have turned in the last few years. This raises a lot of stench and suspicion on the source of funding, he held.
Without naming anyone Jakhar said, “MLAs who would come on cycles now own luxury cars worth many crores. Many have several acres of farm houses”. Since the quantum of money involved in drug money trail is colossally huge, it reeks of money laundering which can be probed by the Enforcement Directorate, or as deemed fit by the Chief Justice, since money laundering could be huge and involving the high and mighty.
Ministers, MLAs, party presidents, party in-charge and leaders of all hues should be a part of the investigation by the agencies, Jakhar said, adding that he as BJP president volunteers to be the first to be probed as a mark of his and his party’s sincerity and earnestness.
