At his Patiala residence: Sidhu says ‘security lapse’ after ‘suspicious character’ spotted

“This security lapse will not deter me from raising my voice for Punjab,” he added.

Later, SSP Varun Sharma visited Sidhu’s residence. “We are verifying. Security [detail attached with Sidhu] is as per the protocol decided by ADGP security,” he added.

A police official said CCTV footage of the area was being scanned.
Sidhu was in middle of a meeting with former Patiala MP Dr Dharamvira Gandhi and three others, including Prof Harjeshwar Pal Singh, Dr Narinder Singh and a woman when the alleged security lapse took place.

“The intruder was standing around 15 yards away on the terrace when my servant raised an alarm. The person hid behind a curtain before jumping to neighbour’s terrace when my servant tried to confront him,” Sidhu told The Indian Express, adding, that his lawyer has lodged a criminal complaint in this regard.”

The former minister, said that as the intruder “had wrapped himself in blanket in such a hot weather, he may have been carrying something [to attack]”.

Dr Gandhi, meanwhile, told The Indian Express that he was in meeting with Sidhu to discuss agenda for Punjab and strategy for Jalandhar [Lok Sabha] by-election. “We were in a room, which opens to the terrace. Sidhu sahib’s wife Dr Navjot Kaur came running and said that the servant had spotted an intruder,” Dr Gandhi said, adding that as they rushed out, the intruder jumped onto the terrace of a neighbour’s house and escaped. “He had his face covered. It was getting dark, but one could make out that it was a man. It is difficult to say what exactly his motive was. It all happened in fraction of seconds. We told Sidhu sahib to be cautions and ensure his security while moving,” he added.

Navjot Kaur had on April 10 hit out at Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for pruning security detail of her husband “despite the fact that he was mentioned in a speech of Lawrence Bishnoi” and had that (Mann), will be “directly responsible for any harm”.

Sidhu, who came out of the Patiala Central Jail on April 1 after serving nearly 10 months in a 1988 road rage death case, too had taken on the state government for pruning his security cover and had even called Chief Minister Mann Bhagwant Mann as the “most protected CM”.