IG Parmar replaces DIG Khatra as spl probe team head
FARIDKOT : A month after Punjab and Haryana high court had asked the state government to replace the head of special investigation team (SIT) probing the 2015 sacrilege cases, inspector general of police (IGP) border range Surinder Pal Singh Parmar has been appointed new chairman of the SIT.
On January 4, the bench of justice Amol Rattan Singh observed though it is not discarding the probe conducted by the SIT led by deputy inspector general (DIG) Ranbir Singh Khatra, the team should be headed by a different officer so as to ensure that “no element of prejudice”, whatsoever, remains in the mind of the petitioner
However, former SIT head Khatra will remain a member of the SIT. Gurdaspur senior superintendent of police Rajinder Singh Sohal, deputy superintendent of police Lakhbir Singh and inspector Dalbir Singh are other members of the SIT.
DIG Khatra said the SIT has conducted a fair probe and filed a chargheet against the accused last year. “As per the high court orders, another officer has been appointed head of SIT, while I will be its member,” he added.
The high court judgment came on the plea of Sukhjinder Singh, a Dera Sacha Sauda follower, who had challenged a summoning order by a Faridkot court, passed after the chargesheet was filed against him by the SIT in connection with the theft of a ‘bir’ (copy of Guru Granth Sahib) from Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village near Kotkapura in Faridkot district on June 1, 2015.
The high court had also asked the CBI to hand over case files pertaining to the sacrilege cases to Punjab Police within one month. The Punjab Police would take into account evidence collected by the CBI and file a supplementary challan in the FIR, the court had said.