SIT chief forwards DIG Bhullar’s name to replace Khatra as member

FARIDKOT: After the retirement of inspector general of police (IGP) Ranbir Singh Khatra, the name of Jalandhar police commissioner DIG Gurpreet Singh Bhullar has been recommended to be nominated as member of the SIT probing the sacrilege cases of Guru Granth Sahib in 2015.

SIT chairman, IGP (border range) Surinder Pal Singh Parmar, in a letter to director bureau of investigation Arpit Shukla recommended that DIG Bhullar may be nominated as member of the SIT.

After Punjab and Haryana high court quashed the investigation reports of the SIT led by former IG Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh in Kotkapura firing case, the SIT probing the 2015 sacrilege incidents has expedited the investigation and process to file a supplementary charge sheet.

The profiles of eight DIG-rank officers — Babu Lal Meena, Baljot Singh Rathore, Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, Hardial Singh Mann, Harbaj Singh, Gurpreet Singh Toor, Surjit Singh and Gurpreet Singh Gill — were scrutinized for nomination as a new member. Parmar said that after the superannuation of Khatra, who was member of the SIT, one officer in the commensurate rank had been requested to be nominated for the SIT dealing with the sacrilege cases.

“DIG Bhullar was found to be most appropriate for nomination as the member in the SIT on the basis of his wide experience in practical investigative skills as the officer has tremendous exposure of around 30 years in investigation and supervision in the various field units,” he added.

Khatra was appointed the chairman of the SIT constituted by the state government on April 22, 2020, to probe the cases related to three FIRs registered in connection with sacrilege incidents. The first case pertains to the theft of the ‘bir’ (a copy of Guru Granth Sahib) from Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village near Kotkapura in Faridkot district on June 1, 2015.

The second was the putting up of a poster at Bargari village on September 25, 2015; and the third was the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib as torn pages of the ‘bir’ were found in Bargari on October 12, 2015.

In January this year, the Punjab and Haryana high court had directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to hand over the diaries and papers relating to the investigation into the three sacrilege incidents of 2015 to the Punjab Police and asked the state government to replace the then SIT head Khatra. In February, IG Parmar replaced Khatra as the new chairman of the SIT. However, Khatra remained a member of the SIT till his retirement on March 31 this year.

DIG Bhullar was found to be most appropriate on the basis of his wide experience in practical investigative skills SURINDER PAL SINGH PARMAR, SIT chairman