Will cooperate with investigative process: Parkash Badal to SIT

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 14

Five times Chief Minister of Punjab Parkash Singh Badal on Monday categorically reiterated his “intent and commitment to fully cooperating with the law” and said he had ‘complete faith in the judiciary’.

He has, however, asked the SIT “to reschedule the date for his appearance for the investigations as he is not keeping good health and has been advised complete bed rest for 10 days by doctors”.

“As soon as my health gets better, I will be available to join the investigation as per law, at my current place of residence (in Chandigarh.)”

Badal hoped that “this SIT, unlike the previous one, would respect the law of the land and conduct a fair investigation, withstanding political interference from the ruling dispensation” which, he said, had been “brazenly subverting the law for petty political gains”.

In his two-page response to the summon from the SIT investigating the handling of Kotkapura incidents by the previous government, Badal said “the entire process of investigations already stands brazenly compromised through blatant and unapologetic political interference and  it reeks too strongly of political vendetta to inspire any confidence about a fair process of law being followed”. In spite of this, said Badal, he will “cooperate fully” with the investigative process.

The former Chief Minster pointed out that the very need for the present SIT had “arisen out of the brazen politicisation of the case by the previous SIT”. In this regard, Badal criticised “one of the members of the previous SIT” for his “openly political conduct” which had allegedly subverted the entire investigative process.

“With a callous and contemptuous disregard for all the established procedures and norms, this officer completely usurped and appropriated to himself the entire functioning and designated role of all the other members of the SIT, including its chairman, and rendered them totally redundant and they were reportedly not even a part of the investigative process”.

The former CM referred to reports that said that the findings of the previous SIT had been scripted jointly by half a dozen high profile members of the ruling party. These reports, he said, had never been contradicted.