Chandigarh, Sep 6 (PTI) Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday slammed Harpal Singh Cheema for targeting his government over the law and order issue and accused the AAP MLA of "mutilating facts" in a "desperate" bid to win the 2022 state assembly polls.

Singh hit out at Cheema, the leader of opposition in the Punjab Assembly, a day after he, while quoting some data, alleged that the law and order problem in the state had become "uncontrollable" and there was an atmosphere of "fear" among people.

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Terming Cheema's allegations of increasing cases of crime in the state "unfounded and baseless", Singh claimed he was shocked at the "highly irresponsible" behaviour of the AAP leader in spreading "false" information based on some unsubstantiated media report.

"Instead of picking up unverified data from here and there, Cheema could have approached the DGP to get the facts, which are completely removed from what he has put in his press release," said Singh in an official statement.

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He alleged that Cheema has once again proved the Aam Aadmi Party's ideology is based on "lies and fabrications", with all the leaders of Arvind Kejriwal's party having become "masters of deceit".

Contrary to his claims, only 38 cases of 'kidnapping for ransom' have been reported in the state since the Congress government took over in March 2017, Singh claimed, adding that all those cases had been solved, with the victim's release successfully secured and the culprits arrested.

Even convictions have been obtained in many instances by fast tracking of criminal trials in serious cases, he said.

This, Singh said, was a far cry from the 7,138 incidents cited by Cheema, who evidently cannot differentiate between kidnapping for ransom and other cases of abduction or kidnapping.

"But then, given your total lack of experience of governance or administration or policing, this does not come as a surprise," he chief minister said.

To rebut Cheema's claims on the 'kidnapping for ransom' cases, the chief minister said as against his claim of 1,032 such cases, only 3 were actually reported in Ludhiana and all were eventually solved.

Similarly, in Amritsar Comissionerate and district, only two cases of 'kidnapping for ransom' were reported, while in Jalandhar district, not a single such case was registered, as against the 619 claimed by the AAP leader, he added.

The law and order situation in Punjab is currently among the best in the country, said Singh.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)