A day after the Punjab Vigilance Bureau booked dismissed AIG Raj Jit Singh under the Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly owning disproportionate assets, a massive hunt was launched to arrest him even as there are fears of more cops being under a scanner after the SIT reports on drug dealings were recently made public.
Raj Jit is at the centre of the three SIT reports, which probed drug mafia-police links but were kept sealed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court until recently. The vigilance FIR is based on these reports, in which Raj Jit allegedly colluded with another dismissed cop Inderjit Singh.
But what has created ripples in the top echelons of the police department is the order issued by Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, appointing an ADGP-rank officer to look into the role of other officers in the case. The SIT had clearly spelled out the need for a further probe to find out the involvement of other police officers in the drug dealings.
As for Raj Jit, the SIT reports stated that his properties increased in number in 2013 when Inderjit Singh was working under him in Tarn Taran as CIA incharge. The FIR, quoting the reports, stated that Raj Jit while buying the properties under-valued them in the registration deeds.
He allegedly gave property sellers substantial amounts in cash, which could be black money or ill-gotten drug money. The FIR further stated that Raj Jit mobilised large amounts as loans or gifts from friends for buying property in his and family members’ names.
Raj Jit is also named in a June 2018 FIR registered by the special task force, primarily against Inderjit after the alleged recovery of 6 kg heroin from the dismissed cop’s house in Phagwara. Inderjit, lodged in jail at present, was booked for smuggling and tampering with seizures and he is under trial in this case.
According to sources, though the office of the DGP has informed the chief minister that Inderjit was the prime beneficiary of Raj Jit’s “largesse”, the probe team has been asked to widen its scope. Mann has asked to widen the probe to find out about those who had recommended the transfer or posting of the sacked and controversial inspector.
“Not just directly, the CM apparently wants to know if any other officer had indirectly helped Inderjit Singh or was in touch with Raj Jit in their illegal activities, which went beyond their brief,” an officer said.
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