Ex-MLA, five Punjab senior cops charged

Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, May 28

A special investigation team probing the October 2015 police firing cases in Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura has filed an about 2,000-page chargesheet against a former Akali MLA and five senior police officers in the court of judicial magistrate here. 

Those chargesheeted are Kotkapura ex-MLA Mantar Singh Brar, then Ludhiana IGP Paramraj Umranangal, former SSP Charanjit Singh Sharma, ADCP Paramjit Singh Pannu, DSP Baljit Singh and SHO Gurdeep Singh Pander. A case against them was registered under IPC Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (causing hurt) and 341 (wrongful restraint) and under the Arms Act.

The SIT claimed in the chargesheet that investigation was also underway against former CM Parkash Singh Badal, SAD chief Sukhbir Badal, former DGP Sumedh Singh Saini, former DIG Amar Singh Chahal and others. A supplementary chargesheet would be filed after the completion of the probe, said the SIT.

Several persons were injured in the police firing in Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura on October 14, 2015, to quell gatherings protesting sacrilege incidents.

Enclosing digital evidence and mobile phone call details of the accused, the SIT claimed that in order to execute its plan of using force to disperse the protesters, Umranangal called his subordinate from Ludhiana — ADCP Pannu — and Moga SSP Charanjit Singh to Kotkapura. 

A tear gas squad from Ludhiana had reached too and weapons to be used against the protesters were kept in hiding, alleged the chargesheet. 

The SIT accused the Rohtak DC and the Jail Superintendent (at Rohtak) of not complying with the judicial magistrate’s order to allow the questioning of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the firing cases. On March 19 this year, the SIT had sought the court’s permission to interrogate the dera chief, who is lodged in Rohtak jail.

“Declining the dera chief’s questioning was a deliberate act on the part of Rohtak DC and the jail authorities in violation of the court orders. We will further act on it as per the law,” reads the chargesheet.

Describing the dera chief as a "suspect", the SIT claimed several witnesses had named him for his role in the police firing.

About the involvement of actor Akshay Kumar in the “negotiation” between the dera chief and Sukhbir in Mumbai, the SIT submitted details of the SAD chief’s visit to Mumbai. These were obtained from the Punjab Bureau of Investment and Promotion, Udyog Bhawan, Chandigarh. The details showed Sukhbir was in Mumbai on September 15, 2015, corroborated by a post shared by him on his Facebook page, the chargesheet said.