Of Ravi Sidhu’s conviction, Capt’s graph and spin-offs
Monday, 13/04/2015
http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=128805&boxid=64036&uid=&dat=2015-04-13
More than bringing home the inevitability of the proverb that chickens come home to roost, the verdict sentencing former PPSC chairman Ravinder Pal Singh Sidhu brought me in a flash back the memories associated with March 25, 2002. The day that proved to be the biggest nightmare for the former journalist after vigilance sleuths, assisted, rather commanded, by then IG (Intelligence) Sumedh Singh Saini, caught him with his hand in the till, accepting bribe from an excise officer, aspiring to don the PCS ranks.
While the arrest came as a shock to many who had bribed their way into PCS or PPS, the high and mighty who once boasted of good relations with Ravi Sidhu, began to look for impenetrable cover. Besides the then excise and taxation officer Bhupjit Singh (now no more), who went to Sidhu’s official residence in Sector 39, Congress leader Parminder Singh Pinki, presently an MLA from Ferozepur City, were behind the operations carried out with a degree of deftness by the Vigilance Bureau of Punjab.
Not many would know that vigilance officials had hardly any role to play in the trap laid to entrap Sidhu. The VB sleuths were involved just in signing the papers and sewing up the snare of legal formalities at the initial stage. In fact, it was the intelligence officials, led by the IG (Intelligence) Saini and ably supported by DIG R P Singh, and other SP level officers, who had planned and laid the trap. Though it took a little while for Saini to convince the then DGP M S Bhullar and top vigilance officials, before he carried out the operations along with the state VB. Sidhu was arrested on March 25, 2002, and soon, crores of rupees tucked away in five bank lockers started tumbling out, a footage repeatedly shown by news channels to bring the viewers the enormity and extent of corruption. As the footage went viral, many high-profile people, including some bureaucrats and judges, involved in the cash-for-job scam, started looking for cover.
In the initial few days that followed Sidhu’s arrest, even the local media did not know how to go about the stories. Many would throng the vigilance office right from dawn to dusk, while Sidhu’s associates, including Jagman Singh, were quizzed on the fifth floor of the Punjab Police Headquarters, the floor that houses top Intelligence officials.
It was the first time that a high profile chairman of a public service commission was arrested by the vigilance. It was the first time that such huge amount of money (about Rs 8 crore) was recovered from five bank lockers of a chairman; not to forget the two other lockers in another bank which yielded no money. This set off the talk that some vigilance officers had opened these lockers and snatched crores of rupees which were never declared to the government, giving rise to what has come to be known as the mystery of the “missing millions”. Again, it was the first time that over hundred of PCS and PPS officers were dismissed from service by a government diktat. It was the first time that dark clouds of suspicion came to hang low over some high court judges for their alleged involvement in the recruitment scam. And politically speaking, it was the first such case that catapulted Capt Amarinder Singh from nowhere to the top of the ladder of anti-corruption crusaders.And ironically, it was the first case in which those behind the arrest of such high-profile authority were shown the door after pressure started mounting on the government from all quarters. Resultantly, almost all senior officers of the Intelligence wing, including Saini, R P Singh, etc, were shifted within days of the arrest of Ravi Sidhu. It is common knowledge that after this transfer, Saini never got any important posting until curtains were drawn on Capt Amarinder’s tenure. But for a young journalist like me trying to get his trappings, it was godsend of a case to cover for Hindustan Times.
My good equation with almost all police officers involved in questioning Sidhu helped not just in pulling off some scoops, but even I had the opportunity to see him in the lock-up in a Mohali police station. One, who cared two hoots for anyone until three days ago, was seen pleading with officers with folded hands to let him off the hook. Maybe, the realisation had dawned on him that his pot of graft had brimmed over, that his game was over, and that he was not above the law.
Sidhu tried to attribute motives to Capt Amarinder for his arrest, but in reality, only a politician like him could have the guts to go after a “corrupt man” and bring him to justice. Sidhu’s arrest came as a big relief for the state as well as for young deserving aspirants for civil services. It would be uncharitable not to mention PPSC members, including late GIS Bhullar, who had earlier served as an IG in Punjab Police and wanted Sidhu to face the consequences for his misdeeds. But after this episode, the relationship of Saini (now the DGP of Punjab) with Capt Amarinder, and his old friend and a colleague, then vigilance chief A P Pandey, had turned sour forever. This consequence, of course, can in no way be compared to the consequences that have befallen Ravi Sidhu and members of his family.
