IG Umranangal is not new to controversies
Grandson of Akali leader and anti-Khalistan campaigner Jiwan Singh Umranangal, Paramraj was recruited in force on compassionate grounds after militants killed his father
Inspector general of police (IGP) Paramraj Singh Umranangal, who was arrested by the Punjab Police’s special investigation (SIT) on Monday in connection with the October 2015 police firing on anti-sacrilege protesters at Kotkapura, is not new to controversies.
Grandson of former Akali leader late Jiwan Singh Umranangal, an anti-Khalistan campaigner of his time, Paramraj was recruited in the force as a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) in 1987 on compassionate grounds after his father Sukhdev Singh was gunned down by militants.
Even as his alleged controversial and at times non-serious approach has invited him trouble, he managed to get plum postings most of the times in his career being a “go-getter” cop for high-ups in the police department and many politicians cutting across political lines.
In 2015, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) probed his alleged links with International drug smuggler Raja Kandola but later gave him a clean chit. Though he was considered closer to the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders due to his family’s political background, he was considered close to many in the ruling Congress as well.
When Amarinder Singh was chief minister in 2003, he was posted as senior superintendent of police (SSP) of Patiala, the CM’s hometown. When he was posted as DIG (Amritsar border range) in December 2012, Umranangal was suspended by the then SAD government in a case of the killing of Ravinderpal Singh, an assistant sub-inspector (ASI), by an Akali worker. He was reinstated in February 2013.
During his posting as DIG (Ferozepur range) in October 2012, a police team led by him created a major blunder in the infamous Faridkot abduction case by releasing the photos of the girl, a minor, to justify before the media that she was not kidnapped by the main accused, gangster Nishan Singh, and his friends, but had herself married him. Then he was shifted as DIG (border range). Also, he was accused of eliminating one Sukhpal Singh in a fake encounter when he was Ropar DSP in 1994. Sukhpal’s widow moved the court in June 2013 demanding CBI probe into the alleged fake encounter.
He considers former DGP Sumedh Saini as his “mentor” and the day when police fired on protesters at Kotkapura, Umranangal, who was posted as Ludhiana commissioner, is believed to have been sent to handle the situation. Though SIT says he was “commanding” the force at Kotkapura and ordered action against the protesters, he has maintained that he was not the only senior cop at the site.