Amritsar top cop Gurpreet Bhullar transferred amid Jantar Mantar protest-ISI module row

Issuing a single order, the state government posted Bhullar at DGP’s office in Chandigarh and gave the charge to Border Range DIG Harmanbir Singh Gill

The Aam Aadmi Party-led Punjab government on Friday transferred Amritsar commissioner of police Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, a day after his claims of a busting a Pakistan-backed terror module attempting to attack the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest at Jantar Mantar triggered sharp political reactions.

The officer on August 4 had addressed the media to announce the arrest of nine accused, including four minors, in connection with a terror module being operated by Pakistan’s ISI. (HT File)

Issuing a single order, the state government posted Bhullar at DGP’s office in Chandigarh and gave the charge to Border Range DIG Harmanbir Singh Gill. A 2004-batch Punjab cadre IPS officer, Bhullar had taken over as the Amritsar top cop in November 2023.

The officer on August 4 had addressed the media to announce the arrest of nine accused, including four minors, in connection with a terror module being operated by Pakistan’s ISI.

The case gained national attention after Bhullar, in a video bite to a news agency, claimed that few juveniles in the module had visited Jantar Mantar protest site to hurl petrol bombs, but could not do so. While busting the module, officers recovered three pistols, nine live cartridges and four petrol bomb bottles.

However, edited clips of Bhullar’s press conference were circulated on social media, allegedly creating a false impression that the CJP protesters were linked to the terror module. Throughout the day on Thursday, Bhullar’s bite was used by many political handles of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and news channels, portraying the arrested accused as CJP protesters.

By Thursday evening, the Punjab government issued a clarification, asserting that Bhullar had neither claimed that the accused were participants in the Jantar Mantar protests nor that the protesters themselves had any connection with the alleged terror module.

The statement by the official spokesperson of Punjab Police maintained that selective editing of the police commissioner’s remarks had created a misleading impression linking the protesters to the accused. The statement even threatened legal action against those using trimmed clips to create false impression of linking the module to the CJP protesters.

However, on Friday, Bhullar was shunted out as commissioner, with a state government official reasoning that the officer unnecessarily created controversy, causing anti-CJP groups to attack the outfit.

Considered the blue-eyed boy of all political regimes in Punjab in the past two decades, Bhullar has always remained on plum postings. Even when Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal survived an assassination at the entrance of Golden Temple in Amritsar in December 2024, the officer evaded any reproach from the AAP government.

As commissioner of police in Amritsar — a key border district adjoining Pakistan — Bhullar oversaw investigations into several Pakistan-backed terror modules as well as cases involving cross-border drug and arms smuggling.

Former Union minister of state Ravneet Singh Bittu questioned the timing of the transfer. “The timing of Gurpreet Singh Bhullar’s transfer is bound to raise eyebrows. Did his accurate revelations about the alleged Jantar Mantar plot trouble Kejriwal?” Bittu said. Bhullar was not available for comments despite repeated attempts to contact him.