Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, June 23

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Kotkapura police firing incident on Tuesday courted major controversy during the questioning of former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal when it was accompanied by a retired official who allegedly posed as a deputy superintendent of police (DSP).

The ex-CM is under Z+ security due to which the identity of anyone meeting him has to be registered. However, Vijay Singla, who is the former Director (Prosecution), Punjab, accompanied the SIT assuming the identity of a DSP, said SAD president Sukhbir Badal.

Badal said the security staff of the ex-CM, including some Punjab police officials, were able to identify Singla.

Badal told The Tribune that Singla's real identity was revealed when they questioned his credentials. Badal said the SIT "violated" the High court order by bringing a retired official under a fake identity.

"This smacks of a conspiracy and proves our point that the whole probe was and is politicized, " he said.

An Akali leader said Singla left the room when the Badals' questioned the legality of his presence during questioning.

SAD leadership maintained that the SIT claimed that the official was a DSP.

"He was wearing a mask due to which he was not immediately recognised," said an Akali leader.

However, government sources said the SIT had not faked the official's identity.

"The SIT is empowered to attach a legal expert to the investigation. It is allowed by the High Court. Moreover, Vijay Singla is well known to the Badal family as he had been their advocate earlier, so there was no question of faking his identity," the official said.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had quashed the previous SIT for biased investigation.

Badal was questioned for nearly three hours by the SIT on the sequence of events leading to police opening firing at a mob protesting the series of sacrilege incidents.