The claim that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was held at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport for nearly three hours after a return flight from Paris is a misstatement, industry sources told Times Now on Wednesday—Mann, owing to his status as a serving chief minister, was accorded protocol and passed through customs unhindered, while two aides were detained for allegedly carrying goods beyond the permissible limit.
In the wake of AAP’s earlier allegation that Mann had been issued a Rs 50,000 challan for the excess, the party’s media in‑charge Baltej Pannu said the sanction was the result of pressure from higher authorities.
Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia added that customs officials had specifically inspected the chief minister’s luggage and questioned Mann and his wife Gurpreet Kaur over the alleged excess.
Mann’s trip to Paris was part of a larger initiative to showcase Punjab’s agricultural produce at SIAL Paris 2026, and the trip had been cleared only after the Punjab and Haryana High Court allowed the state’s challenge on 16 October, citing the Ministry of External Affairs’ denial of political clearance as unlawful.
The Punjab government has now filed a formal complaint with the Ministry of External Affairs requesting a review of the customs action and an explanation for the alleged political harassment.