Hooch tragedy: SAD leaders including Bikram Majithia detained by police during protest

Some leaders of opposition SAD including Bikram Singh Majithia were briefly detained here on Friday by the police as they tried to stage a protest near the Punjab Raj Bhawan demanding dismissal of the Congress government in the state over the hooch tragedy.

Talking to reporters at the protest site, Majithia dubbed Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's visit to Tarn Taran to meet families of the victims as a “mere photo op”.

Demanding a CBI probe into the incident which has so far claimed 121 lives, the senior Akali leader said, "Our party demands justice for the victims. We will continue our fight till they get justice”.

Another senior SAD leader Balwinder Singh Bhunder said the chief minister made a show of visiting the victim families.

“The truth is that he paid a twenty minute visit to the police lines in Tarn Taran which was heavily guarded as the Congress government feared a backlash from the people," he said.

“People were summoned to be present like they are in a durbar due to which a large number of them refused to come despite intense pressure from SPs and DSPs deputed specifically for this purpose," he said.

"The chief minister also refused to visit Amritsar and Batala – the two other sites of the hooch tragedy...,” he added.

The Akali leaders demanded a compensation of Rs 25 lakh and a government job for each family of the victims.

Bhunder said since there was no scope of justice from the Congress government, the SAD leaders had come to the Raj Bhawan as they wanted to request Governor V P Singh Badnore to take action on the representation submitted to him on Thursday by a SAD-BJP delegation led by Sukhbir Singh Badal and Manoranjan Kalia.