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Behbal Kalan police firing: Sukhbir Badal appears before SIT
The SIT probing the post-sacrilege police firing incident at Kotkapura in 2015 had summoned Sukhbir to question him in connection to the two FIRs registered at the Kotkapura city police station on October 14, 2015, and August 7, 2018
Former Punjab deputy chief minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal was questioned about the 2015 Behbal Kalan police firing on Tuesday.
The Punjab Police SIT probing the post-sacrilege police firing incident at Kotkapura in 2015 had summoned Sukhbir to the Punjab Police Officers’ Institute, Sector 32, Chandigarh, to question him in connection to the two FIRs (first information reports) registered at the Kotkapura city police station on October 14, 2015, and October 7, 2018.
Sukhbir was asked to appear before the SIT with relevant records regarding two FIRs registered at the Bajakhana police station on October 14, 2015, and October 21, 2015.
The summons were issued under Section 160 (police officer’s power to require the attendance of witnesses) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
Sukhbir reached the venue along with his lawyers and senior SAD leaders at 11 am. This is the first time that he has been summoned for questioning regarding the 2015 police firing incident since the AAP came into power.
The SAD president had skipped the first summon issued by the special investigation team (SIT) headed by inspector general of police (IGP) Naunihal Singh, which is probing the Behbal Kalan police firing incident, on August 30, citing a court appearance in Zira in a different case.
So far, two SITs have questioned Sukhbir twice regarding the police action taken at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan. The SIT led by additional director general of police (ADGP) LK Yadav had questioned Sukhbir in June 2021, while the one led by former IGP Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, who is now an AAP MLA, had questioned the SAD chief in November 2018.
Last month, the SIT had questioned former director general of police (DGP) Sumedh Singh Saini and filed a status report in Faridkot court.
On July 12, the trial court in Faridkot directed both SITs probing the Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan firing cases to submit their status reports within the fortnight.
A chargesheet (now quashed) filed in the court by Kunwar Vijay in May 2019 had said that incidents of desecration of Guru Granth Sahib were “a pre-planned handiwork of then deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, then DGP Saini and Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda”.
The Kunwar-led SIT had claimed that the post-sacrilege firing incidents at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan were part of a conspiracy, and directions came from the top.
On April 9, 2021, questioning the impartiality of Kunwar Vijay, the Punjab and Haryana high court had quashed all chargesheets filed by the SIT in the Kotkapura firing case. The court also directed the state government to reconstitute a new SIT without him. Following this, the then Congress government constituted an SIT led by Yadav in May 2021.
