HC quashes AAP leader's plea against summons

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday dismissed a petition challenging an order of a court in Punjab's Fazilka town in which senior AAP leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira was summoned earlier in connection with a drugs case.

Though the high court on Friday quashed the non-bailable warrants (NBW) issued against Khaira by the Fazilka court, it asked the trial court to decide the matter on merit.

The petition seeking dismissal of the summons was made by Khaira, Punjab's Leader of Opposition, through his counsel who had said that the "matter was a classic instance of political vendetta".

A war of words broke out between the ruling Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) earlier this month after Khaira was summoned. The Congress and Akali Dal leadership demanded Khaira's resignation.

Khaira's name had come up in a heroin smuggling case after the arrest of some drugs smugglers in 2015.

Admitting an application under Section 319, the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge in Fazilka on November 1 ordered issuance of summons to Khaira in the case.

Slamming the Congress government in Punjab, led by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, for unleashing political vendetta against him, Khaira said that his summoning by the Fazilka court was "wrongful and erroneous" and "done at the behest of Captain Amarinder Singh through his politically motivated prosecution machinery".

Khaira said that when the drug scandal broke out in March 2015, the then (Parkash Singh) Badal government set up a Special Investigation Team but it could not find anything incriminating against him.

Punjab Congress President Sunil Jakhar said that Khaira had lost the moral ground to continue as Leader of Opposition following the summons and the dismissal of his petition by the high court.

Khaira, an outspoken leader who has been causing political trouble for the Congress and Akali Dal, said that he would explore available legal options in the matter.

--IANS

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