Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday announced that he has received the three special investigating team (SIT) reports of 2018 on the nexus between police officers and drug traffickers and action will be initiated against the culprits according to the law.
The Punjab and Haryana high court had on March 28 ordered that the sealed reports be opened and sent to the Punjab government for action. “I have received the three reports that were lying in sealed envelopes for years. Strict action will be initiated against those who have ruined the youngsters of Punjab,” Mann tweeted.
The high court had opened the three reports, dated February 1, 2018, March 15, 2018, and May 8, 2018, on the role of the police in drug cases of Punjab and sought the response of former director generals of police (DGPs) Dinkar Gupta and Siddharth Chattopadhyaya.
The court acted on the plea of former DGP Suresh Arora, now the state chief information commissioner (CIC). Arora had filed the application demanding that he be allowed to “intervene” in the case in which the court is examining charges against police personnel for their “complicity with drug cases accused”.
Gupta is now director, National Investigation Agency (NIA), New Delhi.
{{/usCountry}}Gupta is now director, National Investigation Agency (NIA), New Delhi.
{{/usCountry}}This case is an offshoot of the 2013 plea in the Bhola drugs case in which the court has been monitoring steps taken by the state to fight drug abuse and probe those involved, including high-profile individuals.
The bench of justice GS Sandhawalia and justice Harpreet Kaur Jeewan has sought responses from both the former DGPs by May 4 as Arora argued that the fourth report should not be opened.
During the hearing on Tuesday, state additional advocate general Gaurav Garg Dhuriwala submitted that the government wanted that all reports be opened.
The high court bench had opened three reports filed by the SIT led by Chattopadhyaya in 2018 and made them part of the court record.
The government has been told to act upon it, after getting a copy of the same from the high court.
Genesis of controversy
The SIT led by Chattopadhyaya was constituted on December 15, 2017, as then SSP Raj Jit Singh levelled allegations of bias against Harpreet Singh Sidhu, the then chief of the special task force (STF) on drugs. The SIT included Chattopadhyaya, then an ADGP, Prabodh Kumar and former IGP, Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh.
In all, four sealed cover reports were submitted, one on January 30, 2018 and the second on March 14, 2018. However, on April 6, 2018, Chattopadhyaya told the court that the “role” of then police chief Suresh Arora and then DGP (intelligence) Dinkar Gupta had come to light during investigation. He had suggested that he was being ‘implicated’ in the suicide case of Inderpreet Chadha, the son of former Chief Khalsa Diwan president Charanjit Singh Chadha, due to his investigation into the drug case. This suicide case FIR was registered in Amritsar in January 2018.
On May 8, 2018, two reports were filed in the high court on the issue. One of the reports submitted on May 8 was only signed by Chattopadhyaya and two other SIT members dissociated themselves from the contents of the report. Earlier, the reports were signed by all. The high court took all these reports on record on May 8, even as the then state government objected to the report signed by only Chattopadhyaya.
Now, Suresh Arora has objected to the opening of this report signed by just Chattopadhyaya and in this backdrop, the court has issued notices to Chattopadhyaya and Dinkar Gupta.
In the application taken up on Tuesday, Arora argued that he be allowed to intervene to bring the “right to perspective” before the court, about the “private report” submitted.
‘Went beyond scope of mandate’
The application stated Chattopadhyaya had acted beyond the scope of the mandate of the SIT, as specified by the court at the time of its constitution.
It said Chattopadhyaya acted in a mala-fide manner with a view to better his chances of being appointed to the top post of the police force at a time when Suresh Arora was to demit office and hand over the baton to his successor.
It was also submitted by Arora that in the service litigation fought by Chattopadhyaya against his non-appointment to the top post, the government in the Supreme Court had stated that Chattopadhyaya acted beyond the mandate given by the court and had abused his position as the head of the SIT.
The government also questioned the timing of making allegations against Arora, the former DGP and against his successor, Dinkar Gupta, as the appointment of the new DGP was to take place soon, it was submitted.
Arora said that Chattopadhyaya had alleged bias against him in his non-selection for the top post and developed the perception that he had jeopardised his chances of being appointed to the top post and chosen to make “wild and baseless allegations”.
During the hearing on Tuesday, senior advocate RS Rai appeared and received notice on behalf of Dinkar Gupta.
Meanwhile, the court posted the matter for hearing on May 4 and sought a report from the Punjab government in the suicide case of Inderpreet Chadha, in which the probe against Chattopadhyaya was stayed on April 4, 2018.