Under fire from numerous quarters after Patiala mayor Jaspal Singh Pardhan was accused in the murder case of his 'daughter-in-law' Parampreet Kaur, the state government has formed a three-member special investigating team (SIT) to ascertain his role in the case.
The SIT is led by the inspector general of police (IGP) (Crime), Shashi Prabha Dwivedi; the deputy inspector general of police DIG (Intelligence), RK Jaiswal, and superintendent of police (Crime) Balbir Singh are the other two members. The team would submit the investigation report to deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal.

Patiala IGP Paramjeet Singh Gill, while confirming the development, said the SIT had immediately started the investigation and a time-bound report would be prepared.

The SIT was formed on the orders of Sukhbir Badal, who, after getting the details from Gill, discussed the matter with the director general of police (DGP).

The team visited the parents of the victim and the crime scene, and took statements from the parents and relatives of Parampreet.

It is learnt that the government decided on an SIT investigation to come clean in the matter; a police investigation would have given the opposition and the parents of the victim an opportunity to raise uneasy questions.

Sources said that preliminary investigation by the local police had failed to establish the role of mayor in the murder.

A senior district police official said that the call records of the mayor had failed to establish that the mayor was present in the house where Parampreet was killed in the Toba Kashmiria area of Patiala city.

However, there is enough evidence to indicate that Parampreet was murdered.