Several locations in North India are searched by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau for BJP leader Manpreet Badal

The BJP politician and former minister Manpreet Singh Badal is wanted on an arrest warrant in relation to suspected irregularities in the acquisition of a property, therefore the Punjab Vigilance Bureau launched searches at multiple places in north India on Friday in an effort to find him.

According to police, the searches were carried out across Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, and Chandigarh.

The former minister had been the subject of a lookout circular (LOC), they said.

In connection with the incident, the bureau had filed a complaint against Badal and five other people. They have all three been detained. An arrest warrant for Badal has just been issued by a Bathinda court.

When bureau investigators arrived to Badal’s Chandigarh home in the evening, they found him absent, according to sources.

Several places in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Rajasthan were also searched by bureau teams, according to them.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) administration headed by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has come under fire from Punjab BJP President Sunil Jakhar for “targeting” political rivals.

He sought a comprehensive examination of every case brought against opposition leaders during the first 18 months of the AAP administration, according to a statement.

Using the charges against Manpreet Badal and Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira as examples, Jakhar said that the AAP’s efforts to muzzle the voice of opposition were coherent.

Khaira was taken into custody by the Punjab Police on Thursday morning at his home in Chandigarh in connection with a narcotics case.

Jakhar did add, however, that internal strife within the Congress was a factor in Khaira’s detention.

According to Jakhar, Punjab Congress leaders are on a quest to destroy one another and whatever is left of the party in the state. He said that if Congress still had any leadership today, they would have dissolved their alliance with the AAP right away.

According to Jakhar, the governor of Punjab questioned the fiscal propriety of Chief Minister Mann at the same time the complaint was filed against Manpreet Badal.

After conducting searches at Badal’s home in Muktsar, the CBI issued the lookout notice on Mann on Monday. Badal left the Congress in January and then joined the BJP.

Based on a 2021 complaint from former Bathinda MLA Sarup Chand Singla claiming irregularities in the acquisition of the property at a desirable location, the vigilance bureau opened a probe into the Badal issue.

BJP politician Singla, who formerly belonged to the Shiromani Akali Dal, said that Badal had exploited his position as a minister under the previous Congress administration to turn two commercial plots into a residential plot for himself.

The case was filed in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act as well as sections 420 (cheating) and 468 (forgery) of the Indian Penal Code.

According to the vigilance bureau, it was discovered during the investigation that Badal reportedly exploited his position to acquire two plots totaling 1,560 square yards in Model Town Phase-1 Bathinda, costing the state exchequer thousands of dollars.