The North News
Chandigarh, March 24
The Punjab government on Tuesday reassigned key ministerial portfolios after the arrest of former minister Laljit Singh Bhullar, with Harpal Singh Cheema taking charge of transport and Ravjot Singh being given the prisons department.The portfolios were reallocated a day after Bhullar was arrested in connection with the death of a Punjab State Warehousing Corporation official, who allegedly died by suicide after accusing him of harassment.
The Bhagwant Mann-led government said Cheema, who already holds the finance, excise and taxation, and planning portfolios, would now also handle transport. Ravjot Singh, who currently oversees NRI affairs and parliamentary affairs, has been assigned the prisons department.
The transport and prisons portfolios were previously held by Bhullar, who resigned from the cabinet after a video surfaced in which the deceased official allegedly accused him of harassment.
The official, Gagandeep Singh Randhawa, district manager of the Punjab State Warehousing Corporation in Amritsar, is alleged to have consumed poison on Saturday.
Police in Amritsar later registered a case against Bhullar, his father Sukhdev Singh Bhullar and personal assistant Dilbag Singh. The three were booked under provisions related to abetment of suicide, criminal intimidation and common intention under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
