Bathinda: Punjab Police inspector general (IG) Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh in a letter to the force’s chief DGP Dinkar Gupta and additional chief secretary home Anurag Agarwal on March 15, 2021, said the special investigation team (SIT) had examined former deputy chief minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal — who was in-charge of home department — on November 19, 2018, and former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on November 16, 2018.
Kunwar said a challan regarding this is required to be submitted in the court of competent jurisdiction, as mentioned in the first challan presented on May 27, 2019, pertaining to FIR number 129/2018 of Kotkapura city police station.
The IG also mentioned that another challan is required to be filed in FIR No. 130/2015 in the Behbal Kalan firing case. He further said that a closure report has to be filed in FIR number 129/2015 in Behbal Kalan case as per the SIT’s investigation and added that he stood by each and every sentence of the nine challans presented in the court.
Kunwar also wrote that he had been subjected to “threats as well as coercive and abusive language” by Shiromani Akali Dal leaders Sukhbir Badal and Bikram Singh Majitha, but it did not deter him from the "righteous and rightful path". He emphasised said that nothing had been done regarding this by the office of advocate general, Punjab despite his informing the competent authority.
Referring to the spate of writ petitions in the high court, he says, "I can only say that trial of a case is the yardstick/ benchmark of an investigation conducted by an investigating officer or an investigating agency. As regards to the contents and veracity of the challans, I can only say that any decision should be made on merit of the cases and material produced before the trial court. The legal team of the state of Punjab has also been briefed from time to time."
The IG said that on reading of the gist of these writ petitions, it has come to fore that point interalia challenged by the petitioners is challan by one person (Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh), pertaining to Section 173(8) of the Code of Criminal procedure/ further investigation/ reinvestigation/fresh investigation, an order of 2013 about his integrity and impartiality, a letter on June 26, 2020, to Faridkot district judge with comments about a judge being close to a political family and the Election Commission of India’s reference of April 5, 2019.
He also gave details of the case diaries, saying that every challan/charge sheet submitted under his signature on behalf of the SIT bears proper sanction from the competent authority including prosecution sanction from the department of home affairs & justice, Punjab.
As regards personal integrity and competence, the IG wrote, " It is a matter of record that I have been entrusted with numerous investigations suo moto by the high court and the state government and the same has been appreciated in various orders and judgments".
Shiromani Akali Dal spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema, when contacted, said, "… He could not substantiate the facts in investigations due to which the court has quashed this… Censure from ECI was not enough that now high court has to give directions to not include him in the SIT, which is enough to describe his intentions."