Capt says Punjab needs Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, SIT chief says can carry on but not as IPS

Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, an IG rank officer in Punjab Police, late on Tuesday said that he will will continue to serve the society “but not in the IPS”, hours after Chief Minister Amarinder Singh refused to accept his resignation that he had tendered following adverse comments by the high court on a probe led by him in the 2015 Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan police firing.

Singh headed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Punjab Police that was probing into the police action on people protesting over the alleged desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib in which two people were killed.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court Friday quashed the SIT inquiry and directed government to form a new SIT without Singh, following which he had met the CM Monday and handed him his resignation.

“I will continue to serve the society in the best possible manner, however, NOT in the IPS,” the officer said in a post on his Facebook page. “I did my part… No regret. I request everybody not to glamourise or politicise the issue…,” he further said.

Sources said that in his resignation, the SIT chief had not mentioned the HC decision. Sources also said that he was miffed at the way the case was handled by the government in the HC.

In a statement, while declining the voluntary retirement plea of Kunwar Vijay Pratap, the CM termed him a highly competent and efficient officer.

The CM pointed out that he had already made it clear that any decision of the court that seeks to remove Kunwar Vijay Pratap as the SIT chief or to quash the investigations would be challenged in the Supreme Court.

The officer and his team have done an excellent job of expeditiously investigating the Kotkapura case, which the Akalis have tried hard to stall for the past four years, Amarinder said.