Chandigarh, October 23
On the second day of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha session, former Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar again joined the family of Ajay Kumar of Abohar for a sit-in outside the Assembly. The family had also protested outside the Vidhan Sabha yesterday. Ajay Kumar was shot outside a temple in Abohar last month and died during treatment on October 19. His family alleges that the police have failed to act against the actual culprits despite the statement he gave before his death. It is also pertinent to mention that testimony by Ajay’s brother had led to the conviction of the accused in Abohar’s widely reported 2015 Bhim murder case. The family is now accusing the same people of involvement in Ajay’s murder.
Speaking on the occasion, Jakhar demanded that the government register an FIR based on Ajay Kumar’s statement before his death. “We are being forced to return here repeatedly to make this deaf government hear us. Yet neither the Chief Minister nor any minister in his government has the courage to listen to this family’s plea,” he said. Jakhar alleged that the person accused by the family is a favourite of Manish Sisodia and Arvind Kejriwal, adding that Kejriwal himself had blessed him on the very day Ajay was murdered.
Accusing the Aam Aadmi Party of criminalising politics, Jakhar said the party was bringing criminal elements into politics as part of a strategy to win elections by any means. He said that providing police protection to a criminal serving life-sentence who is out on bail and covering up his wrongdoing demonstrated the AAP government’s double standards. “One can easily imagine the plight of ordinary people in a city where the police are placed at a criminal’s disposal,” he said.Jakhar further alleged that the person in question had committed a ₹220 crore bank fraud in collusion with certain PNB bank officials. He claimed that the Aam Aadmi Party had provided him with police protection to prevent the bank from recovering its dues by auctioning his properties.
“The AAP’s affinity for gangsters and criminal elements is now out in the open,” he said. Jakhar said he would accompany the family to the protest every day for as long as the Assembly session continued. On the occasion, Ajay’s mother and sister described the circumstances of the case to the media. They alleged that the person who committed the murder had posted a video threatening people while referring to his political patron, Sholi. They further alleged that this same political patron had been appointed the Aam Aadmi Party’s head in Abohar. Ajay’s body remains at Abohar Civil Hospital, where members of the community are also continuing a sit-in demanding justice.