ADGP Yadav to head three-member SIT
LUDHIANA POLICE CHIEF RAKESH AGARWAL, FARIDKOT DIG SURJIT SINGH ARE OTHER TWO MEMBERS; PROBE TO BE COMPLETED IN 6 MONTHS, SAYS GOVT ORDER
Acting on the orders of the Punjab and Haryana high Court, the Punjab government on Friday constituted a new three-member special investigation team (SIT) to probe the 2015 Kotkapura police firing case.
The SIT --- headed by additional director general of police (vigilance bureau) LK Yadav, who will be assisted by Ludhiana police commissioner Rakesh Agarwal and Faridkot range DIG Surjit Singh --- will complete the investigation within six months, the government said.
The high court on April 9 had quashed a report by an earlier Punjab Police SIT, headed by IG (now retired) Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, into the Kotkapura firing. Police had opened fire at people protesting over the alleged desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib in Bargari village of Faridkot district.
Police had also opened fire at a similar demonstration in Behbal Kalan, also in Faridkot, where two people were killed. A separate probe is underway in that case.
The ruling Congress in Punjab has constantly targeted the Shiromani Akali Dal, which was in power then in the state, over the two incidents.
The new SIT will investigate the two FIRS registered on October 14, 2015, and August 7, 2018, in connection with the Kotkapura incident.
The state home department order said the SIT would ensure “meticulous compliance” with the directions of the high court stipulating that there would be no interference from any quarter, internal or external, in the investigation.
The SIT shall work jointly and all its members would put their signatures on all the proceedings of the investigation and the final report.
The SIT would not report to any state executive or police authority regarding the investigation and would report only to the magistrate concerned, it said.
The members of SIT have also been directed not to leak any part of the investigation and refrain from interacting with the media on the probe.