Chandigarh, Aug 8 (UNI) The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) Saturday held a massive protest march to the Raj Bhawan demanding an independent inquiry into charges that the liquor mafia had paid Rs 2,000 crore to Congress President Sonia Gandhi and the party high command to thwart any inquiry into the illicit liquor trade being run under the patronage of Congress leaders and legislators in Punjab.

The massive march, which was led by former MP Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra and included party workers from the Patiala Urban and Anandpur Sahib constituency besides hooch victim families, was stopped two hundred meters from the Raj Bhawan. Following this the protesters staged a dharna before courting arrest.

Addressing newsmen on the occasion, Prof Chandumajra said as per reports the liquor mafia had dispatched Rs 2,000 crore to Congress President Sonia Gandhi besides the Congress high command. He said it was because of this that the Congress government in Punjab was refusing to hand over the case file vis a vis the Rajpura illegal distillery cum bottling plant case to the Enforcement Directorate. “The liquor mafia knows that if the case file is handed over to the ED then the entire money trail from the source to the political benefactors will be exposed. This is why money was sent to the Congress high command so that it does not put pressure on the Congress government to hand over the case files to the ED and allow a free and fair inquiry into the illicit liquor trade business in Punjab”.
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