Ludhiana, June 7 -- A day after former cabinet minister and Congress' Ludhiana West candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu received summons in a Rs.2,400 crore land misuse case, the Punjab government on Friday suspended the senior superintendent of police - SSP, vigilance Jagatpreet Singh - who had issued the summons. While the official orders of the Punjab government stated that the SSP was placed under suspension for misconduct and dereliction of duty, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders said he had orchestrated the summons in collusion with Ashu to help the Congress leader gain public sympathy ahead of the bypoll. The high-stakes Ludhiana West bypoll is scheduled for June 19 in which Ashu is pitted against AAP's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora and BJP's Jiwan Gupta among others. As per the summons issued on June 4, Ashu was to appear before the vigilance bureau on Friday, however, the Congress leader cited his busy election schedule for his inability to do so. "I will join the investigation after June 19," he told reporters in Ludhiana. AAP minister Tarunpreet Singh Sondh said the SSP was a classmate of Ashu. "The officer misused his position to favour Ashu, and thus has been suspended. Such behaviour will not be tolerated," he said. AAP spokesperson Neel Garg, in a video statement, alleged the notice was "fabricated" and aimed at shifting focus from the multi-crore school land scam, in which Ashu and his associates, including his brother, are accused of misappropriating prime land meant for a school. Meanwhile, the Congress, which many were speculating to be a divided house, came out in unison to defend their candidate. Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said the party will neither forget nor forgive the actions of the AAP government. Leader of Opposition in the Punjab assembly, Partap Singh Bajwa on Friday accused the AAP and chief minister Bhagwant Mann of a "calculated attempt to intimidate" Ashu ahead of the bypoll. In a statement, Bajwa said, "It's clear that they (AAP government) first tried to use state machinery to scare Ashu into silence. Summons were issued to him by the vigilance bureau just weeks before polling - not as part of any genuine investigation, but as a crude, desperate tactic to gain political advantage," he claimed. "When their intimidation attempt backfired and public backlash intensified, AAP shifted gears, and in an unbelievable twist, vigilance bureau SSP Jagatpreet Singh - who had issued the summons to Ashu - was suddenly suspended. According to reports, the Mann government claimed the officer was trying to help Ashu "gain political mileage," he said, calling it a "laughable face-saving stunt". The LOP asked the state government if Ashu is running the police department now. Bajwa further said SSP Jagatpreet was seen attending a public meeting of AAP's Rajya Sabha MP and Ludhiana West candidate Sanjeev Arora, raising serious questions about the real motive behind the summons. Addressing a press conference with former cabinet minister Pargat Singh, Rana Gurjeet Singh and Jeet Mohinder Sidhu, Ashu said the main accused in the land scam case have already secured anticipatory bail but he is being targeted. On AAP leaders' allegations that Jagatpreet was promoted as deputy superintendent of police (DSP) during Congress regime, Ashu said the cop was promoted when the SAD-BJP was at the helm. A senior government functionary, meanwhile, claimed that the SSP's suspension was a result of a "power tussle" between different power centres in the government. The official claimed that the summons to Ashu were issued after consultation with seniors in the vigilance bureau as well as the government. "However, when another power centre in the government got to know about it this morning, they got furious. The matter escalated and ultimately the SSP was suspended," said the functionary. Special director ADGP vigilance bureau Praveen Kumar Sinha remained unavailable for comments despite repeated calls and texts. The case relates to the alleged misuse of 4.7 acres in Sarabha Nagar. The land was originally allotted by the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) decades ago to run the New Senior Secondary School. However, it is now reportedly being used for commercial activities such as running private playway schools and businesses, for which the school management collects large amounts in rent. This isn't Ashu's first encounter with legal troubles. As a former minister of food and civil supplies, he was previously arrested in a foodgrain transportation scam in 2022. The two FIRs were quashed by the Punjab and Haryana high court in 2024 due to lack of evidence....