SAD leader arrested on fraud charge

Our Correspondent

Abohar, June 19

Akali district secretary and Abohar Insecticides and Fertiliser Dealers Association president Suresh Satija has been arrested under Sections 465, 467 and 471 of the IPC and 7 of the Essential Commodities Act. He was produced in a court which remanded him in judicial custody. He was taken to the Fazilka sub-jail, but was reportedly referred by the staff to the Central Jail at Ferozepur.

A case was registered at the Wahabwala police station against Satija, tractor-trailer driver Satya Dev and staffers Sanjay and Surinder, alleging their involvement in transporting 63 bags of fertiliser “illegally” from Rajasthan.

Satija’s sons Amit and Abhishek claimed in a statement on Tuesday that fertiliser was being loaded by a purchaser in a tractor-trailer from the family’s shop at Amarpura village on the state highway when the police and Agriculture Department officials intercepted it, but nothing wrong was found.

Legislator Arun Narang of the BJP held a meeting with SAD and BJP leaders, who alleged that they were being “falsely” implicated in criminal cases due to political vendetta. The matter would be brought to the notice of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, he added.

SGPC member Kaur Singh of Wahabwala village condemned Satija’s arrest. “We will protest the police highhandedness,” he warned.