HC stays probe against Punjab DGP Chattopadhyaya
Probes into a suicide and a drug racket spiral into a fight among top officers, reveal war within
IN HIS PLEA, DGP (HRD) BLAMES DGP SURESH ARORA, DGP (INTEL) DINKAR GUPTA AND IG (CRIME) LK YADAV FOR DRAGGING HIS NAME INTO SUICIDE CASE
CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday stayed investigation against Punjab director general of police (human resource development) Siddharth Chattopadhyaya into the suicide case of Inderpreet Chadha, son of former Chief Khalsa Diwan president Charanjit Singh Chadha. The special investigation team (SIT) under inspector general (IG crime) LK Yadav is conducting the probe.
The HC bench of justice Surya Kant acted on Chattopadhyaya’s plea in which he has blamed three top officers — DGP Suresh Arora, DGP (intelligence) Dinkar Gupta and Yadav — for dragging his name into the suicide case.
Inderpreet committed suicide on January 3 after his father got embroiled in a video scandal. The SIT had sent two questionnaires to Chattopadhyaya on his role in the case. The HC summoned record of the Chadha suicide case by April 23 and asked advocate general Atul Nanda to seek instructions on the controversy, besides restraining the SIT to proceed in the FIR against Chattopadhyaya. The court said the investigation may continue against other suspects. Chattopadhyaya has sought a probe by the CBI.
The HC had appointed Chattopadhyaya to probe the role of Moga SSP Raj Jit Singh in a drug case and to investigate the complicity between officials with drug traffickers in 2017. The DGP (HRD) submitted two reports on February 1 and March 15 in the HC. Chattopadhyaya alleged he was being falsely implicated by the SIT under Yadav at the behest of senior officers whose role was under scanner for being closely associated with the Moga SSP.
Chattopadhyaya alleged that Arora and Gupta’s role came to light during the drug case probe. DGP (HRD) claimed he was also conducting an investigation into a benami property allegedly acquired by a DGP. Both Arora and Gupta are supervisory officers and career progression of SIT members is in their hands, he told the court. “The FIR is just a ruse to pressurise me and to change the course of investigation,” Chattopadhyaya claimed, adding that it all started after he submitted his first report in the drug case before the high court.
He claimed their idea was to embarrass him and second questionnaire in the Inderpreet suicide case does not have any relevance to it. The court was told that Chattopadhyaya’s name neither figures in the suicide note nor in the FIR. Inderpreet had commented against Chattopadhyaya in his diary as he was a member of the NRI commission which dealt with a dispute between a woman and Inderpreet. He said an adverse order was passed by the commission against Inderpreet after the DGP (HRD) had left the commission in 2016. This, as per Chattopadhyaya, was the basis for the SIT to issue him questionnaires.
CHANDIGARH: As Punjab’s director general of police (DGP), human resource development, Siddharth Chattopadhyaya made serious allegations of “roles” in the drug racket against DGP Suresh Arora, who is chief of the force, and DGP, intelligence, Dinkar Gupta, a murky cold war over the top post came is approaching boiling point.
The allegations came in Chattopadhyaya’s application to the Punjab and Haryana high court in a suicide case; and the court on Friday stayed the probe against the officer. Chattopadhyaya said he was being dragged into a suicide case by probe team led by inspector general of police (IGP) LK Yadav, at the behest of Arora and Gupta. Chattopadhyaya, who heads a special investigation team (SIT) to look into drug-racket charges against Moga senior superintendent of police (SSP) Raj Jit Singh, said he was being targeted as his probe “brought to light the role of” Arora and Gupta. A benami (brought-by-proxy) house of “a DGP” is among the points being investigated in relation to the drug racket, his application added. Raj Jit is seen to be in the good books of Arora and Gupta, and Chattopadhyaya has questioned this proximity.
This is being seen as a bold move in a game that started with the decision of the Capt Amarinder Singh-led Congress government to retain DGP Arora as the top boss even though he was given the post by the previous SAD-BJP regime that lost power after 10 years in March last year. This reportedly led to heartburn among aspirants including Mohammed Mustafa, who is a 1985-batch officer of the Indian Police Service (IPS), and Chattopadhyaya, who is from the 1986 batch.
Then, the high-profile landing of ADGP Harpreet Sidhu, who was on deputation to the CRPF, into a marquee post, as head of a a special task force (STF) against drugs, aggravated the situation as he was asked to report directly to the chief minister, not to Arora. Seeing Sidhu’s direct access to the CM, most of those against Arora started putting their weight behind Sidhu, according to officers who did not want to be named.
The split wide open now — seen as “unprecedented” by former top cops — comes with only five months remaining for Arora, a 1982-batch IPS officer, to retire in September. As Arora and Gupta are learnt to have a rapport and have been working in close co-ordination for years, there is a feeling among others in line that Arora is preparing the grounds for Gupta as his successor.
Both Gupta and Arora have the confidence of the chief minister and a large section of top officers, as they have “cracked” the high-profile targeted killings of the past two years and have come down heavily on gangsters. Being the intelligence unit chief gives Gupta an added advantage, according to multiple officers.
Meanwhile, STF chief Sidhu’s wings appear to have been clipped over his style of functioning. The CM recently decided to put the STF under the control of the DGP (Arora). In the drug case in which the STF had summoned SSP Raj Jit, the state government left the STF chief red-faced in the HC too. Raj Jit had accused Sidhu of being biased, and the government through the advocate general called for shifting the probe to officers other than Sidhu. It was after this argument that the court made the SIT headed by Chattopadhyaya, who has submitted two interim reports.
Meanwhile, there were reports of Chattopadhyaya’s “involvement” in the suicide of Inderpreet Chadha, who had killed himself after his father Charanjit Singh Chadha, the then president of charity Chief Khalsa Diwan, was caught in a video scandal. “Chattopadhyaya has a feeling that his name was dragged into the suicide case just to end his chances for the top post and to derail the SIT investigation into Raj Jit’s role,” said a senior officer who did not want to be named.
On the other hand, the Arora faction apprehended that the Chattopadhyaya-led SIT could drag Arora or Gupta’s name into the drug case. Then there are other senior officers have are keeping their fingers crossed, fancying their chances in the fight of the two factions.
However, this bitter fight has raised concerns for the government as it may cast its shadow over the overall functioning of the force. “This fight is unfortunate. Police force is not a political party,” said a retired DGP, adding, “Such infighting would have long-lasting effects on the culture of the force. Senior government officials must intervene to stop this.”