The Punjab government, led by Bhagwant Mann, told the Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday that security coverage for all 424 people had been “temporarily” removed for the Amritsar ghalughara event and would be restored on June 7.
The Punjab Police revoked or limited the security of these individuals last week. Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, also known as Sidhu Moosewala, was killed by unidentified assailants in Punjab’s Mansa district on Sunday. On May 30, the high court in Punjab ordered the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government to explain why it had revoked the security of several protectees in the state and how their identities had been made public.
The High Court’s Justice Raj Mohan Singh issued these orders while hearing a petition by former deputy chief minister OP Soni challenging the Punjab government’s decision to remove his security cover. The state government had been given until June 2 to submit a report on the matter in a sealed envelope to the High Court.
“In a sealed envelope, the Punjab government presented their report on the number of people whose security was taken and the reason for it. They requested more time because they did not have the central government’s reports on this “Soni’s counsel, advocate Madhu Dayal, told reporters.
The state government told the court, according to the advocate, that the “The Amritsar ghalughara event has temporarily suspended security, which will be reinstated by June 7. It went on to say that whoever made a public list of people whose security had been compromised would be held accountable.”
On the day of the hearing, the court inquired once more about how information about the removal of the security cover ended up in the public domain.
Earlier in the day, the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed a petition filed by Lawrence Bishnoi, a jailed gangster who was seeking appropriate directions for not turning over his custody to Punjab police in the murder case of singer Sidhu Moose Wala.