Just days before the crucial Ludhiana West Assembly by-election, a big political storm has hit the city. Jagatpreet Singh, the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) in the Vigilance Bureau (VB), has been suspended. His suspension came right after he sent a legal notice (summons) to Congress candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu in a major land scam case worth Rs 2,400 crore.
The case is linked to the misuse of school land in Sarabha Nagar, Ludhiana. Jagatpreet had asked Ashu and 25 others, including current and former school management members, to appear before the bureau regarding this issue. However, Ashu refused to appear, saying the summons was only a political move to distract him from his election campaign.
Soon after, Cabinet Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond held a press conference and revealed a surprising detail: he claimed that SSP Jagatpreet and Ashu were old classmates. The minister alleged that Jagatpreet acted in Ashu’s favour by sending the summons just before the elections so that Ashu could play the victim and gain sympathy votes.
Sond said that when the government looked deeper into the matter, they discovered this “planned drama” and suspended Jagatpreet for serious misconduct.
The controversy doesn’t end there. Ashu hit back by sharing a photo of AAP candidate Sanjeev Arora in a meeting with government officials — and Jagatpreet was also in that meeting. Ashu questioned how a candidate from the ruling party could meet officials during election time, suggesting bias.
The background of the case goes back to a complaint made by the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) chairman. In the 1960s, about 4.71 acres of land were given at a cheap rate to set up a school in Sarabha Nagar. But now, it’s alleged that the land was used for commercial activities instead — which violates the agreement. An FIR was registered in January, and since then, the Vigilance Bureau has been investigating.
The entire situation has now taken a political twist, with accusations flying from both sides, just as the bypoll campaign heats up.
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