Chandigarh, October 23
BJP Punjab State General Secretary Anil Sarin has challenged Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to explain why the Customs Department fined him ₹50,000 at Delhi Airport and demanded that he make the receipt public. Sarin questioned what the Chief Minister had brought back from abroad that prompted the Customs Department to take action.
Speaking to the media in Chandigarh on Friday, Anil Sarin said Mann could not evade accountability by claiming that the head of the Customs Department at Delhi Airport is the brother of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. He dismissed the Chief Minister’s claim as ridiculous. Sarin accused Mann and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of attempting to mislead the public through baseless allegations. He said the Chief Minister must first clarify which items had led to him being stopped at Delhi Airport and why the Customs Department had imposed the fine. Before making allegations against others, Mann should come clean on the facts of the matter, he added.
Sarin further pointed out that passengers arriving at and departing from Delhi Airport are routinely subject to security checks and customs procedures. He said that while the Chief Minister might be exempt from personal screening under protocol, his luggage would not necessarily enjoy the same exemption. The exemption, he added, would not automatically extend to members of his entourage either. Anil Sarin accused Mann of attempting to politicise the Customs Department’s action instead of providing a clear explanation of the incident.