Amritsar train tragedy: Sidhu fails to appear before inquiry commission

Amritsar, Nov. 2 (IANS): Punjab Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday failed to appear before the one-man commission conducting an inquiry into the Amritsar train tragedy in which 60 people were killed on October 19.
Sidhu’s wife, Navjot Kaur, who was also summoned by the commission, however, appeared on Friday and gave her statement.
Sidhu, who was present in Amritsar on Friday, later held a press conference and justified his absence.
“I wrote to him (probe commissioner) that I was not in Punjab from October 16-20. So there are no inputs that can actually add to your proceedings,” Sidhu told the media.
Senior IAS officer B. Purushartha, who is conducting the magisterial inquiry in Amritsar, had asked the Sidhu couple to appear before the commission on November 2.
Regarding Sidhu not appearing before the inquiry commission, Navjot Kaur told the media after appearing before the commission at the Improvement Trust building that “He is at home only. He had a programme to distribute cheques (to families of victims of the train tragedy). He has sent whatever statement he wanted to make (to the commission).”