Chandigarh, Sep 29 (PTI) The Punjab Vigilance Bureau on Friday conducted raids at several locations in north India in search of BJP leader and former minister Manpreet Singh Badal, facing an arrest warrant in connection with alleged irregularities in the purchase of a property.

The raids were conducted in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Chandigarh, officials said.

Also Read | Delhi Shocker: Man Found Hanging From Tree in Park Near Dwarka Mor, Murder Case Registered.

A lookout circular (LOC) had been issued against the former minister, they said.

The bureau had registered a case against Badal and five others in connection in the matter. Three of them have been arrested. A court in Bathinda had recently issued an arrest warrant against Badal.

Also Read | West Bengal: BSF Deploys Drones With Night-Vision Capabilities To Stop Cross-Border Criminal Activities.

Bureau sleuths reached Badal's Chandigarh residence in the evening but he was not there, sources said.

Bureau teams also raided several locations in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan, they said.

Meanwhile, Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for "targeting" political opponents.

According to a statement, he demanded a thorough investigation into all cases filed against opposition leaders in the 18 months of the AAP government.

"There is a coherence in AAP's machinations to suppress the voice of opposition by targeting them with motivated cases," Jakhar said, citing the cases against Manpreet Badal and Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira.

Khaira was arrested by the Punjab Police from his Chandigarh residence Thursday morning in a drugs case.

Jakhar, however, also said that Khaira's arrest was a consequence of infighting in the Congress.

Leaders of Punjab Congress are on a mission to finish each other and whatever is left of the party in the state, Jakhar said, adding if there was any semblance of leadership in Congress today, they would have called off their alliance with the AAP immediately.

Jakhar said the timing of the registration of the case against Manpreet Badal coincided with the Punjab governor raising questions of the fiscal propriety from Chief Minister Mann.

The lookout circular against Mann was issued on Monday after the bureau conducted raids at Badal's residence in Muktsar. Badal joined the BJP after quitting the Congress in January.

In the Badal case, the vigilance bureau had launched an investigation based on former MLA Sarup Chand Singla's 2021 complaint alleging irregularities in the purchase of the property at a prime location in Bathinda.

BJP leader Singla, who was earlier with the Shiromani Akali Dal, had alleged that Badal, as a minister in the previous Congress dispensation, had abused his position to convert two commercial plots into a residential plot for himself.

The case was registered under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code including sections 420 (cheating) and 468 (forgery), and also under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

During the probe, it was found that Badal allegedly abused his position to purchase two plots measuring 1,560 square yards in Model Town Phase-1 Bathinda, thereby causing a financial loss of lakhs of rupees to the state exchequer, according to the vigilance bureau.

(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)