DA case: ₹13-crore transactions made from accounts of Raj Jit, his wife in 7 yrs, Punjab govt tells HC

The case was registered by the VB on April 20. The government had recommended the action following findings in three reports submitted by a special investigation team (SIT) before the court that he had amassed huge properties while he was posted in Tarn Taran from 2013 as the SSP.

The Punjab and Haryana high court has dismissed anticipatory bail plea of sacked Punjab Police assistant inspector general (AIG) Raj Jit Singh Hundal in April 20 disproportionate assets case after the Punjab government told the high court that transactions of ₹13 crore have been reported in his and his wife’s account in the past seven years.

Raj Jit Singh Hundal (File)

Earlier, acting on his plea, the court had given him interim protection from arrest on October 10.

The case was registered by the VB on April 20. The government had recommended the action following findings in three reports submitted by a special investigation team (SIT) before the court that he had amassed huge properties while he was posted in Tarn Taran from 2013 as the SSP.

He was dismissed from service by the Punjab government on April 17 for allegedly colluding with drug smugglers and framing innocent people in false cases and running an extortion racket along with another police official, Inderjit Singh, during this posting.

He has two other criminal cases registered against him. The Supreme Court had on October 6 granted anticipatory bail to him in another FIR registered in 2017, on allegations of drug trafficking. In the third case registered under the NDPS Act, he was granted bail on October 18 by a high court division bench, which had also questioned Punjab Police on its failure to arrest him.

CM’s personal interest in case can’t be termed as political vendetta: HC

To the argument from Raj Jit that he was implicated in the case as part of the “political vendetta” and orders for the same came from the chief minister, the court observed that simply because the matter was brought to the notice of the chief minister would not, on the face of it, show any malice or political vendetta.

“Being the head of the state, the chief minister is responsible for seeing how the law and order of the state is to be maintained and also for eradicating rampant corruption. If the chief minister takes a personal interest, it cannot be treated as a political vendetta,” the bench said rejecting the argument and further recording that it would not only amount to interference in the working of the government but would also frustrate the electoral manifestoes and amount to interference in the people’s representatives who are at the helm of affairs and accountable to people.

Dismissing his anticipatory bail plea, it said, considering the impact of the matter involving drugs, the custodial investigation is required to know the source of money, patronising of drug smugglers by the petitioner and cohort police officers who were supervising the drug cases, and other serious offenses. “The background of the sources of such massive disproportionate assets point to drug trafficking at the instance and involvement of some of the corrupt Punjab Police officers, including the petitioner. The prima facie evidence collected so far points out the sources of funds from such illicit and illegal drug trade,” the court said, adding that it is not a case of mere disproportionate assets but of its trail originating from drug cartels. If police officers are found harboring drug peddlers and drug mafia, its impact on society would be massive, and its magnitude would be beyond comprehension, it added.

“..it is not a case for anticipatory bail, and custodial interrogation of the petitioner would be required to find out not only the sources of such funds but also the involvement of other corrupt police officers who are directly or indirectly dealing in drugs, which has spread chaos in the entire state and also the adjoining areas apart from having international ramifications,” the bench further added.