Awaiting HC nod, SIT probe held in abeyance

FARIDKOT: After recording statements of more than 200 persons in the past about four months in the police firing incidents at Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura in October 2015 in which two persons had died and many others were injured, the Special Investigation Team of the Punjab Police are all set to hold their investigation in abeyance until the Punjab and Haryana High Court vacates the stay in proceedings against five police officers, including former Fazilka Superintendent of Police (SP) Bikramjit Singh and former Moga SSP Charanjit Singh Sharma.

IGP Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh during a meeting at Faridkot on Monday. Tribune photo

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, January 14

After recording statements of more than 200 persons in the past about four months in the police firing incidents at Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura in October 2015 in which two persons had died and many others were injured, the Special Investigation Team of the Punjab Police are all set to hold their investigation in abeyance until the Punjab and Haryana High Court vacates the stay in proceedings against five police officers, including former Fazilka Superintendent of Police (SP) Bikramjit Singh and former Moga SSP Charanjit Singh Sharma.

Inspector General of Police Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh, who is heading the SIT camp office in Faridkot, said on Monday that after questioning and recording the statement of more than 200 suspects and witnesses in Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura incidents, the SIT would now wait for the nod from the High Court to question five police officers, the prime suspects in these incidents.

After these police officers had filed petitions in the High Court demanding the quashing of report submitted by Justice Ranjit Singh Commission, the court had stayed proceedings against them till further orders.

Once the stay on the proceedings against these police officers is vacated and their questioning is completed, the SIT will file the challan in these cases in the judicial court in Faridkot under Section 173 of the CrPC without any further delay, said Kunwar Vijay Partap.

Adopting the world class investigation parameters, the SIT has already collected the medical record of the victims of both these incidents from government and private hospitals.

After recording the statement of witnesses and suspects, the SIT is further analysing these statements to separate the lies and truth. “We can even use the lie detector test for this purpose,” the IGP said.

About the tampering with bullets, which had led to the death of two Sikh protesters at Behbal Kalan in October 2015, the IGP said the SIT was also probing these allegations against some police officials.

In its report, Justice Ranjit Singh Commission had found that the bullets used were tampered with later. Saying that it amounted to destruction of evidence, the commission had asked the state police to look into the matter.