Former Punjab minister Laljit Singh Bhullar allegedly held official Gagandeep Singh Randhawa hostage over a transport tender dispute involving his father.
The case is presented as part of a broader pattern, with multiple allegations of corruption and crime involving AAP leaders since 2022, including the Pathanmajra case.
Past incidents—like the Kapashera bouncer episode, the alleged assault on Delhi’s Chief Secretary, and the Swati Maliwal case—are cited to question the party’s “zero tolerance” claims.
On March 21, 2026, the Laljit Singh Bhullar case took a new turn in Punjab following the suicide of Gagandeep Singh Randhawa. Randhawa was the District Manager of the Punjab State Warehousing Corporation (PSWC). Before taking his life, he recorded a video in which he directly blamed Punjab Former MLA Laljit Singh Bhullar, alleging that he had been severely harassed by him.
Bhullar resigned from the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party after Randhawa consumed poison on Saturday, March 21, 2026. The victim’s family refused to cremate his body until an FIR was registered against Bhullar and his father. Bhullar was eventually arrested on Monday, March 23, 2026, from Mandi Gobindgarh.
According to reports, Bhullar had issued a transport tender for the state’s Warehousing Department. It is alleged that he applied for the tender in his father’s name, but when the contract was not awarded in his favor, the situation escalated.
Gagandeep Singh Randhawa, who was the District Manager of the same department, was reportedly summoned to Bhullar’s residence. It is alleged that he was forced to confess to accepting bribes of ₹10 lakh each for passing tenders. He was allegedly threatened at gunpoint and pressured through threats against his family. A video of this alleged confession was also recorded.
According to the allegations, Bhullar continued to subject Randhawa to mental harassment. The pressure eventually became unbearable, leading Randhawa to take his own life.
The Bhullar case is not an isolated incident but part of a larger pattern within the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab since it came to power in 2022. Within two months, then Health Minister Vijay Singla was accused of demanding a bribe of ₹16 crore and was later caught red-handed in the case. Despite Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s claims of a zero-tolerance policy toward corruption, such incidents raise serious concerns about Punjab becoming a hotbed of corruption.
Similarly, Bathinda Rural MLA Amit Ratan Kotfatta was accused of demanding a ₹5 lakh bribe from a village head for development work and was later prosecuted. Aam Aadmi Party MLA Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra was accused in a rape case and was arrested on February 7, 2024. He later managed to flee to Australia and now claims that he will return to India only when he gets justice.
In Delhi as well, controversies have surrounded the party. When the government was formed in 2015, the Aam Aadmi Party's stature in Kapashed could be seen when bouncers were called in to remove just four or five people from the party, an incident I personally witnessed. Their true colors were revealed there as well. The entire society knows about the Swati Maliwal case and how she was allegedly assaulted, raising further questions about the party’s conduct.
In 2018, when the Aam Aadmi Party was in power in Delhi, Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash was summoned to the Chief Minister's residence at midnight and allegedly manhandled. This marked a dark chapter in Indian politics, with a top-level official facing such a confrontation. The then Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia were both involved in the incident, along with his personal assistant Vibhav Kumar and other MLAs.
Similarly, in 2022, during a meeting involving Delhi Vigilance Minister Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj, Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar was allegedly manhandled and threatened.
Meanwhile, Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra, MLA from Amargarh in Punjab, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on November 6, 2023, in connection with an alleged ₹41 crore fraud involving his company, Tara Corporation Limited. He was later released on November 5, 2024.
Raman Arora, the Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Jalandhar Central, Punjab, allegedly extorted crores of rupees from local businessmen by posing as a fraudulent trader. The Punjab Vigilance Bureau subsequently arrested him on May 12, 2025.
All these incidents suggest that the Aam Aadmi Party, which presents itself as a party of clean governance, is facing serious allegations that challenge its image. Critics argue that, in reality, such cases indicate a pattern that raises questions about accountability and governance. Driven by the pursuit of power, these developments have led many to question whether the party is living up to its original promise of systemic change.
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