Punjab hooch tragedy: 2 SITs formed to fast-track investigation

Chandigarh, August 5

Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta on Wednesday ordered the constitution of two Special Investigation Teams to fast-track investigations into all the FIRs registered in the hooch tragedy that claimed 113 lives.

Additional Director General of Police (Law & Order) Ishwar Singh will supervise both the SIT investigations, according to an official statement issued here on Wednesday.

Punjab Police had registered a total of five FIRs – three in Tarn Taran and one each in Amritsar and Gurdaspur’s Batala – in the case.

Gupta said SP-level officers had, for the first time, been nominated as investigating officers for these cases to ensure conviction of the offenders.

The investigating officers have been directed by the DGP to ensure thorough and comprehensive investigations to unravel the entire backward and forward linkages of the case, both inside and outside the state of Punjab, under the supervision of the SIT.

The investigating officers shall also be responsible for filing final reports in the concerned courts under their own signatures expeditiously, said the DGP.

While Deputy Inspector General (Ferozepur Range) Hardial Singh Mann will head the SIT for investigating FIRs registered in Tarn Taran, Inspector General (Border Range Amritsar) Surinder Pal Singh Parmar would be leading the SIT investigating the FIRs registered in Amritsar and Batala, the statement said.

The other members of the Taran SIT are Senior Superintendent of Police, Tarn Taran, Dhruman Nimbale, along with SP (Investigation), Tarn Taran, Jagjit Singh Walia, who has been nominated as investigating officer.

SSP Amritsar (Rural) Dhruv Dahiya, SP Gaurav Toora along with SSP, Batala, Rachpal Singh and SP Tejbir Singh are members of the second SIT, it said.

The chairmen of the SITs have been authorised to seek and obtain the support and assistance of any officer or wing or unit of Punjab Police, according to the statement.

They can also seek support of any department of the Punjab Government, any specialised institutions, labs or experts for ensuring proper recording of evidence and making out a fool-proof case to secure conviction of the guilty, it said. PTI