Faridkot cops pocket baba’s 1L ‘prasad’

FARIDKOT: The ‘payment in prasad’ of Rs 1 lakh and 150 sweets packets to Punjab police here for providing security to a self-styled Baba who

landed in Kotkapura three weeks back, and its unfazed acceptance by the uniformed personnel as well as its systematic distribution on Tuesday has snowballed into a unsavoury controversy, raising questions whether the uniformed force can accept such a sum in the garb of ‘prasad’ or donation.

Quick to split the donation down the line, on Tuesday, Faridkot police deputed head constable Paramjit Kaur to distribute the ‘parsad’ and take the signature of every recipient. So, gazetted officers (GO) got Rs 5,000 along with a 1-kg sweet packet, non-gazetted officers received Rs 1,000 with it, personal security officers and constabulary were handed a 500-gm packet with Rs 300 and Rs 200.

Justifying this, Faridkot SSP Arun Kumar Mittal said there was nothing wrong in accepting the sweet packets and money from the Baba as it was given as ‘prasad’. “We never made any demand for the money, it was voluntary donation by Baba Ji,” he emphasized.

Interestingly, the Baba’s visit to Kotkapura town on November 30 and the heavy police security arrangements had already stirred a controversy as many doctors had challenged his claims of curing sick through a mantra energized method of removing physical, mental and emotional blockages.

Many senior political leaders, including the sitting and former MLAs of the region, had come to attend the Baba’s programme in the grain market