Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. (Express Photo by Kamleshwar Singh)
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday held an unprecedented closed-door meeting with all officers of the rank of Director General of Police (DGP) and Additional DGP in an effort to end public infighting in the top echelons of the force and is learnt to have warned that any officer involved in acts of “indiscipline” will be dismissed from service.
Amarinder, who also holds the Home portfolio, ordered the police brass to “put an immediate end to fighting their personal and professional battles in courts and (in) the media”, sources said.
During the 20-minute meeting, Amarinder is learnt to have praised DGP Suresh Arora, calling him a “highly professional officer” and making it clear that he did not agree with allegations against the state police chief made in Punjab and Haryana High Court by DGP (HRD) S Chattopdhyaya.
Questioned by a police team probing the Inderpreet Singh Chadha suicide case in Amritsar, Chattopadhyaya recently moved High Court and named DGP Arora and DGP (Intelligence) Dinkar Gupta in a drug trafficking case involving SSP Rajjit Singh. The court stayed the investigation against Chattopadhyaya and asked the government to respond by April 23.
Chattopadhyaya heads a special investigation team formed on HC’s directions to look into the role of SSP Rajjit in a narcotics trafficking case in which another Punjab police officer, Inspector Inderjit Singh, was arrested.
The Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) later made public the “warning” issued in the meeting by issuing a media release.
A CMO spokesperson said that Amarinder expressed shock and concern at the way the legacy of Punjab Police was being “destroyed” by some officers. “Without naming anyone, the Chief Minister said that there are various channels and ways to deal with professional problems. Professional matters being taken to the court is unacceptable, he warned,” the spokesperson said.
“Any senior officer facing any professional issue should first approach the state DGP, followed by the Home Secretary and the Chief Secretary. If he is still not satisfied, he can come to me,” Amarinder is said to have told the top officers.
Barring Sumedh Singh Saini, all the remaining nine DGPs attended the meeting. Of 18 Additional DGPs, only one was absent.
Amarinder said that every officer in the force is required to accept DGP Arora’s leadership.Arora had been appointed DGP by the previous SAD-BJP government and stayed on under the Amarinder-led Congress government. Amarinder told the officers that the Centre was keen to get Arora but he had “requested for his retention in the state in view of his expertise and professionalism”.