Chandigarh, May 30, 2019 (Yes Punjab News)
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today denounced the Congress government for indulging in a politically motivated and vendetta driven SIT inquiry into the police action in Kotkapura and Behbalkalan, even as it maintained the hatchet job had been exposed with the filing of an illegal chargesheet in a Faridkot court.
Senior SAD leaders while holding a press conference here said the chargesheet had been signed by IG Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh on May 23, even though the model code of conduct of election was withdrawn on May 26 and he was reappointed as a member of the SIT team on May 27. Before that the IG had been removed from SIT for issuing politically motivated statements by the Election Commission.
Stating that this was a clear case of fabrication of documents with malafide intention, SAD leaders Maheshinder Singh Grewal and Dr Daljit Singh Cheema said this development also proved that the IG continued to work as a SIT member even when removed from his post by the Election Commission and submitted the chargesheet under his signatures to the Faridkot court when he not holding charge of member of SIT. “This is a clear case of flouting of directions of the Election Commission and also a criminal act in itself”.
SAD leaders including Sikander Singh Maluka, Parminder Singh Dhindsa and Darbara Singh Guru also questioned the very “findings” of the Congress SIT. They said a separate SIT was investigating cases of sacrilege under the leadership of senior police officer Ranbir Singh Khattra. “This SIT has already submitted its chargesheet and there is not even an oblique reference to any Akali leader in its report. Now the SIT in which IG Kunwar Partap is a member and which is investigating police actions in Kotkapura and Behbalkalan, has come out with wild and unsubstantiated allegations which are imaginary in nature. In fact this only proves the SAD contention that the SIT is being used by the Congress party to initiate a witch hunt against Akali leaders to implicate them in false cases. This is a biased and pre-determined investigation in which the IG is acting as a stooge of the Congress party and has even filed a tailor made report as per the dictate of his political bosses”, the SAD leaders added.
Stating that the police actions in Kotkapura and Behbalkalan had been politicized by taking the inquiry back from the CBI and handing it over to a handpicked SIT, the SAD leaders said this was not the first time that the Congress party had targeted the SAD as well as Sikh institutions. He said earlier Sikhs were painted as separatists and terrorists by the Congress party. “Now when the Congress party took over the reins of the State in 2017 it formed the Ranjit Singh Commission to target the Akali leadership. Now it has come up with a false and fabricated chargesheet”.
Stating that the SAD would not take this lying down, Dr Cheema said “we will challenge this malafide act and ensure action against the IG for resorting to forgery and fabrication of documents”. He said the SAD was committed to a speedy impartial probe into the unfortunate incidents and demanded the entire investigation be handed over to an independent agency headed by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court.
