Thaindian News

Chandigarh, May 24 (IANS) With rumours afloat that he may have attempted suicide in prison where he is lodged in a Rs.1.5 crore bribery scam, former Punjab chief parliamentary secretary (CPS) Raj Khurana of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday showed media persons his wrists and said he had not cut them.

Brought to the district court complex here for appearance before a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court, Khurana said: “I am absolutely fine. Nothing has happened to me as you all (media) can see. I have also heard it (the rumour that he cut his wrists) but it is not true at all.”

The court extended his judicial remand till June 6.

Khurana alleged that he was arrested by the CBI earlier this month under a conspiracy.

He has been lodged in the high-security Burail Jail here.

Khurana, a BJP legislator from Rajpura, was arrested by the CBI May 5 following a night-long raid at his official residence in the high-security ministerial complex in Sector 39 here.

The CBI arrested another person, Devinder Singh Bittu, a former state government employee, from Khurana’s residence and seized Rs.15 lakh, cheques worth Rs.1.5 crore and an expensive Porsche car.

CBI officials, who were trailing Bittu, alleged that they both (Khurana and Bittu) had demanded a bribe from an association of mechanics to settle a case involving a big chunk of land near here.

Khurana was forced to resign as CPS following his arrest.

Two senior Punjab ministers, Manoranjan Kalia and Swarna Ram, both from the BJP, were also questioned by the CBI as their name figured in the bribery scam.

Both ministers resigned later from the Punjab government headed by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal of the Shiromani Akali Dal.