Dissension among top cops: CM warns strict action

Sunday, 08/04/2018

https://dailypost.in/news/dissension-top-cops-cm-strict-action/

Chandigarh – Taking serious note of media reports suggesting dissension among the top brass of the Punjab Police, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday warned that he would not tolerate any indiscipline in the force. The Chief Minister discussed the issue with Home Secretary NS Kalsi, DGP Suresh Arora and CPS to CM Suresh Kumar, and directed them to examine the matter and suggest suitable action, as necessary to resolve the same.

Captain Amarinder Singh was of the view that any grievance by any member of the police force, including those against colleagues, should be routed through the well-established administrative procedures and channels laid down for the purpose. “There were well laid down hierarchies that needed to be stringently adhered to, if the police force was to function efficaciously,” he added. The Chief Minister said that as a former member of a uniformed force, he was of the opinion that any act of indiscipline was a matter of grave concern, to be treated with seriousness. “The 80,000 strong Punjab Police force naturally look up to its senior officers for leadership and direction, he said, adding that internal discord or friction could seriously undermine its professional and operational capabilities,” he said.

“The Punjab Police, which had bravely fought militancy in the State in the 1980s and 90s, was required to be both professional and transparent in its functioning in order to effectively deal with the various challenges on the crime and law and order front,” the Chief Minister pointed out. Chattopadhyaya had sought that the investigation into the suicide case of Inderpreet Chadha, the son of former Chief Khalsa Diwan president Charanjit Singh Chadha, be transferred to the CBI or a retired judge of the high court.

Chadha had allegedly committed suicide in January in Amritsar, after he was booked for criminal intimidation, along with his father, on the complaint of a female school principal. His father’s purported objectionable video clip with the principal had also gone viral on the social media. Chattopadhyaya had also accused DGP Suresh Arora and DGP (Intelligence) Dinkar Gupta of “targeting” him in order to “disable” him from conducting an inquiry into the complicity of senior superintendent of police (SSP), Moga, Raj Jit Singh and an inspector, who has been dismissed from service, in a drug trafficking case.

He had blamed Arora and Gupta for allegedly trying to drag his name in the Chadha suicide case. Chattopadhyaya is leading a special investigation team (SIT), formed by the high court, to probe the role of the SSP, Moga and the dismissed police inspector in the drug trafficking case. Chattopadhyaya, in his application, had claimed that during the investigation in the drug trafficking case, the role of Arora and Gupta had come to light and several significant facts and pointers, including reportedly a benami house of a DGP, were being investigated to confirm their involvement in the case with dismissed inspector Inderjit Singh and SSP, Moga, Raj Jit Singh”.