Chandigarh, April 28 (Inditop) A court here has asked Surinder Kaur, wife of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Harsimrat Kaur, wife of Punjab Deputy Chief Minister and Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal to appear before it May 4.
Additional civil judge J.S. Sidhu issued the summons to Surinder and Harsimrat late Monday in an almost eight-year old case of recovery of Rs.82,032 from the Badal family, filed by former additional director of the state’s information and public relations department. The case was filed in November 2001.
The court has also asked Kirpal Singh Badungar, who was then officer on special duty (OSD) to Parkash Singh Badal, and five others to appear in the court May 4.
According to the complainant Jagdip Chowhan, he had in 1998 and 1999, spent nearly Rs.150,000 from his own pocket for the publicity of Sukhbir Badal and his other family members in various districts of Punjab.
“Normally a government official does not participate in such activities but I did on the directions of Parkash Singh Badal,” Chowhan told IANS Tuesday.
Chowhan said Badal had provided him a private taxi and assured him that the amount he spent would be reimbursed. “I arranged extensive coverage in both electronic and print media. I provided services of famous Punjabi singers for political rallies. In this whole process, I had to take loans from my friends and relatives,” he said, adding these were still outstanding.
He said when he asked the Badals for the money, they had allegedly implicated him in a false case, in which he was later given a clean chit by the court.
“I have no money to pay the fees, that is why I have filed a petition for only Rs.82,032 out of my total expenditure of Rs.150,000,” Chowhan said.
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