Kotkapura police firing: SIT grills Punjab ex-DGP Saini for 4 hours

As Saini evaded replies to the queries posed by the team, he will be called again for questioning soon, says a police officer who did not wish to be named

The newly formed special investigation team (SIT) probing the 2015 Kotkapura firing incident questioned the former director general of police Sumedh Singh Saini for at least four hours here on Monday.

The 2015 Kotkapura incident had taken place during the tenure of the SAD-BJP government. Saini was the state police chief at that time. (HT photo)

“As Saini evaded replies to the queries posed by the team, he will be called again for questioning soon,” said a senior police officer who did not wish to be named.

The SIT, headed by additional director general of police LK Yadav, had on Sunday pasted a notice on the outer wall of Saini’s Chandigarh home for questioning.

The Kotkapura incident had taken place during the tenure of the SAD-BJP government. Saini was the state police chief at that time.

Other top officers of state police who were questioned included IPS Sahota and Rohit Chaudhary who holds the charge of special director general police. Suspended IPS officer Paramraj Singh Umranangal was also called for questioning. While Sahota and Chaudhary were quizzed during the earlier part of the day, Umranangal could not be questioned due to shortage of time.

Sahota was head of a bureau of investigation constituted by the then SAD-BJP government to give report on the turn of events that unfolded and Chaudhary was in the crime branch of the state police.

Last week, the SIT was in Kotkapura to quiz the senior police officials who were present on the spot during the firing incident.

A section of Punjab Congress leaders on Monday told the party’s central leadership that the SIT should take the sacrilege and police firing cases to a logical end. They said the delay was hitting the party hard as it was losing ground in the battle of public ahead of the 2022 assembly polls.