Suspecting meeting with singer Karan Aujla, smuggler Gurdeep Singh Rano shifted to Patiala jail

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 18

In the Ludhiana Central jail incident in which Punjabi singer Karan Aujla and several others were given alleged VVIP treatment by Jail Superintendent Rajiv Arora and a meeting between singer and notorious smuggler Gurdeep Singh Rano was allegedly felicitated at the jail, Additional Director General of Police (prisons) PK Sinha directed the Prisons Department to shift smuggler Rano to Patiala with immediate effect.

Confirming this to The Tribune, the ADGP said: “Smuggler Rano was shifted to the Patiala jail as the Ludhiana Central Jail superintendent, Rajiv Arora, had faced the allegation of felicitating a meeting between the singer and the smuggler at the jail. Since the jail superintendent faces this allegation, Rano has immediately been shifted to the Patiala jail. The DIG’s probe however did not find any conclusive evidence of meeting between the singer and the smuggler at the jail. Still, the department took a serious note of the situation to prevent any such allegations in the future.”

Notably after the incident occurred on April 7, Minister of Jails Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa had asked the ADGP (prisons) to probe the matter and fix the responsibility of the Jail Superintendent if the latter had resorted to any negligence. Afterwards, the ADGP had sent DIG (jails) SS Saini to conduct a probe into the matter and submit report. Two days ago the DIG submitted a report to the ADGP and the latter had sent a report to the state government.

The ADGP, however, did not comment whether his probe found the Jail Superintendent guilty or innocent. When Aujla visited the jail, official escort gypsy of Ludhiana Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu had led the cavelcade of the singer to the jail. The police had also submitted a report in this regard to the police headquarters after inquiring from the jail and checking CCTV footages of Smart City cameras.