Akali Dal urges Governor to order probe into Punjab liquor policy

Chandigarh, Aug 31 (IANS) The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Wednesday urged the Governor to recommend CBI and ED probes into the alleged excise scam of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab.It said the revamped excise policy of the state government was akin to the Delhi policy and that the same modus operandi was used to give control of the liquor trade to henchmen in return for kickbacks running into hundreds of crores.A SAD delegation led by its president Sukhbir Singh Badal met Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit and handed over a memorandum stating that the Chief Minister and the Excise Minister have violated the provisions of the Official Secrets Act by making official files of the state available to Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and MP Raghav Chadha, besides private persons.It also listed that the Delhi Chief Secretary had in his report stated that the Delhi excise policy is a quid pro quo arrangement at the top level.It said since the Punjab policy was a copy of the Delhi one, the role of the Delhi Deputy Chief Minister, Chadha and the Punjab Excise Minister, and other private persons should be probed.It said this case fell within the purview of the Prevention of Corruption Act and a case should be registered in this regard also.
--IANS vg/bg

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