420 VVIPS' security will be restored by June 7: Punjab govt
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Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann.
Chandigarh: The Punjab government has informed that the security cover for more than 420 VVIPS will be restored by June 7, five days after the murder of singer Sidhu Moose Wala, who was shot dead within 24 hours of his security cover being rolled back, NDTV reports.
The new Aam Aadmi Party government in the state informed the Punjab & Haryana same after former minister OP Soni approached the court. Sony, who is among the 424 individuals whose security was curtailed by the government, has filed a petition in the high court.
Post the murder of Sidhu Moose Wala, the state's Bhagwant Mann led government has been facing flak for rolling back the security for VVIPs.
The court had asked the government to reason its move to remove the security, and the latter said that the security personnel were needed for Operation Bluestar's anniversary on June 6. Operation Bluestar was the offensive engaged in 1984 to eliminate terrorists who resorted to the Golden Temple.
After that, however, BJP raised that it was a U-turn from what Kejriwal stated earlier that rolling back the security of hundreds of individuals in the state was part of ending the VIP culture.
BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa tweeted, "Kejriwal-Mann duo bite the dust; again. They refuted back in high court on their claim of reducing VIP culture in Punjab by saying that it was a temporary withdrawal. @ AAP Punjab cheap stunt cost Punjabis a precious life. Punjab's youth would never forgive them for their hypocrisy."
Meanwhile, the Mann came to Delhi to meet AAP national convenor Kejriwal. The former announced that a judicial commission headed by a high court judge would investigate Sidhu's murder.
Punjab Police said that there was a gang rivalry behind the singer's murder, as a Canada based gangster took responsibility for the incident through an unverified Facebook account. But, Sidhu's father wrote to Mann criticising his government for linking his son's murder to a gang war and demanded the state police chief's apology.