Chandigarh, Sept 27: former Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Parkash Singh Badal today said he had decided to accept the request of Punjab Vigilance Bureau to question him in connection with the disproportionate assets case against him and his family members. "Although I do not have faith in PVB which is working as part of the Punjab Congress at the instance of the Chief Minister, I have decided to cooperate with the agency as I do not want to give Amarinder Singh a chance to say that I am not cooperating in the investigations", Badal said in a statement released through his party office this evening. The state vigilance bureau, which had recently searched, measured and evaluated properties of Badal and his family in Haryana, including the Orbit Resort at Gurgaon and the farmhouse at Balasar (Sirsa), Punjab, Delhi and Chandigarh had sought time from Badal to question him regarding the assets. Badal said that the investigations were being done to "cook up evidences against him and his family members". Amarinder Singh had been claiming even before assembly elections last year that he had evidences of Badal having amassed assets worth Rs 3,500 crore. "If his claim was right then by now my family and I should have been behind bars", Badal said.
Earlier, a spokesman for Badal had confirmed the receipt of a letter from the vigilance bureau seeking time for grilling the former Chief Minister. He said that Badal would appear before the PVB sometime next week.
Bureau report