Amid outrage over the killing of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday issued a notice to the state government, seeking to know why the names of those whose security had been withdrawn or curtailed, came out in the public domain, reports said.
The bench of Justice Raj Mohan Singh also asked the Bhagwant Mann government to explain the basis on which it decided to withdraw or trim the security cover of over 400 people, including Moose Wala.
Justice Singh has asked the state government to submit the report in a sealed cover by June 2.
The court, reports said, was hearing a petition filed by Punjab's former deputy Chief Minister OP Soni, seeking the quashing of the order dated May 11 de-categorising his security from the "Z" category.
His counsel, advocate Madhu Dayal, contended that the Punjab police withdrew security cover of 184 ex-ministers and former MLAs, including Mr Soni's, on a "pick and choose basis rather than actual threat perception", reports added.
During the hearing, Satya Pal Jain, Additional Solicitor General of India, submitted before the court that such sensitive decisions should not be publicised, which prompted the bench to pass the orders.
Moose Wala, who contested this year's Punjab state polls on a Congress ticket, was shot dead on Sunday evening, a day after his security was pruned.
The downsizing of the security cover has sparked a huge political controversy, with Opposition parties accusing the Bhagwant Mann government of endangering VIPs'.
The AAP-led Punjab government was also slammed for sharing a poster on its official Twitter handle, while announcing its decision to downgrade the security cover of 424 individuals. The poster had mentioned Moose Wala's name.
Facing massive flak, Bhagwant Mann on Monday announced setting up a judicial commission headed by a sitting high court judge to probe the killing of the singer.
Canada-based gangster Goldi Brar, who is a member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, has claimed the responsibility for the singer's killing. Sources say, according to the post-mortem investigation conducted by a team of five doctors at the Mansa Civil hospital, over two dozen bullets were pumped into the popular singer.
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