Chandigarh: After the conviction of the nine smugglers recently, the court admitted a plea moved by the public prosecutor seeking summoning of Khaira, his personal security officer Joga Singh, PA Manish and Charanjit Kaur and Major Singh Bajwa owing to their “links” with the smugglers.

Refuting his alleged links with drug smugglers, Leader of the Opposition and senior AAP leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira today confirmed that he made phone calls to police officials to inquire about the case against a drug smuggler, but insisted that he didn’t pursue the matter after the police shared evidence.

“Gurdev Singh was a prominent politician in my constituency (Bholath).  He was chairman of the local market committee. He had sought my help after he was booked under the NDPS Act. I made calls to an IG and a DIG to inquire about the matter. But I withdrew when the officials explained the case details and evidence against him,” Khaira said.

Gurdev Singh was among the nine persons convicted for up to 20 years’ imprisonment by a Fazilka court last week. They were found carrying 200-350 gm of heroin and a Pakistani SIM card. 

Khaira said he knew the family of Gurdev Singh for some time. “It is usual for a politician to be approached for help and call up the police to know the facts. I only made six or seven calls to the accused. The police claims of 65 calls are false and are not certified by any telecom agency,” he said.