Punjab and Haryana HC notice on plea from former cop Naveen Phogat

Phogat claims he has been falsely implicated in the FIR, at the behest of senior police officials and bureaucrats to silence him and prevent the exposure of a larger “illicit hawala network involving high ranking persons”. The FIR was based on “entirely twisted and fabricated facts, influenced by the senior officials and bureaucrats”, he had claimed in his plea.

The Punjab and Haryana high court has sought response from Chandigarh Police on a plea from dismissed cop Naveen Phogat, seeking independent probe into an August 2023 criminal case involving him.

Punjab and Haryana high court has sought response from Chandigarh Police on a plea from dismissed cop Naveen Phogat, seeking independent probe into an August 2023 criminal case involving him. (Shutterstock)

Phogat claims he has been falsely implicated in the FIR, at the behest of senior police officials and bureaucrats to silence him and prevent the exposure of a larger “illicit hawala network involving high ranking persons”. The FIR was based on “entirely twisted and fabricated facts, influenced by the senior officials and bureaucrats”, he had claimed in his plea.

Sub-inspector (SI) Naveen Phogat (now dismissed) who is an accused in a ₹1.01 crore extortion case was booked in August 2023. Posted as additional station house officer (SHO) at the Sector 39 police station before his dismissal, Phogat was booked for kidnapping a Bathinda-based businessman and extorting ₹1.01 crore from him in Sector 40 by threatening to kill him. He was on the run since August 2023 and had surrendered before the court in November 2023.

The high court has sought response by July 25.

The plea claims the investigation by UT police have been “heavily biased” and further alleged that paper work completed by him related to the illegal activities of senior officials from the police station records was removed. The police have failed to ascertain the source of more than ₹1 crore. Further, he was dismissed from service on the same day the FIR in question was registered, without any enquiry being conducted, he further claimed adding that all these circumstances warrants re-investigation into the Fir and the constitution of an independent SIT.