Punjab: Congress MLA Sukhpal Khaira gets bail in threat case

Kapurthala: A local tribunal on Monday released Congress vice president Sukhpal Singh Khaira on bail in a criminal intimidation case. Khaira’s lawyer Kanwaljit Singh said Kapurthala Judicial Magistrate (Primera Class) Supreet Kaur also asked the Bholath MLA to furnish a bail of Rs 1 lakh. Kapurthala police had registered a case against Khaira under sections 195A (prohibiting any person from giving false evidence) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code on the complaint of Ranjit Kaur. Khaira was arrested in the case on January 4 after he was granted bail by the Superior Tribunal of Punjab and Haryana in the 2015 NDPS case. Kaur is the wife of Kashmir Singh, the key witness in the 2015 drugs case. Khaira was arrested in September in connection with the 2015 case, following which the Congress alleged political vendetta against the ruling AAP in the state. He was released on bail after his alleged role in a case under the Law of Stupefying and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) came to light during the investigation conducted by a Special Investigation Team. The drug case was registered in Jalalabad, Fazilka in March 2015. Nine people, including Khaira’s alleged close aide Gurdev Singh, were tried in connection with the case and later convicted. Police had seized two kilos of heroin, 24 gold biscuits, one national-made pistol, one pistol caliber .315 and two Pakistani SIM cards. Kaur said in her complaint that on October 15 last year, two unidentified masked men arrived at her house on a motorcycle and threatened to kill her family and Singh did not retract his statement against Khaira. He said, on October 22 last year, he received an anonymous call and threatened to eliminate his family. Khaira, cited as an additional accused in the 2015 case, confirmed last year that he had been cited despite the Supreme Court suspending the judicial process against him in 2017. He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in 2021 on charges of capital laundering related to the 2015 case. He was granted bail in 2022. Last February, the senior tribunal had canceled the bail against Khaira in the 2015 case.