Punjab filed ‘untraced’ reports in FIRs against Sukhbir Badal among 18 politicians in 3 months, high court told

In an affidavit to high court, Punjab Police say only 29 cases against MPs, MLAs are under investigation in the state while 53 are pending in trial courts

The Punjab Police filed untraced or cancellation reports in criminal cases against 18 politicians, including Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Badal and party leader Jagir Kaur among 18 other politicians from August to October .

The the Punjab and Haryana high court.

In an affidavit, inspector general of police (crime-3, Bureau of Investigation) Gursharan Singh Sandhu said only 29 cases are under investigation in the state while 53 are pending in trial courts. Cancelled/untraced reports have been filed in 14 cases of which 13 were filed in the past three months, the Punjab and Haryana high court was told.

Unraced/cancelled reports have been filed in three FIRs against Sukhbir, one FIR each against Jagir Kaur, Parminder Singh Dhindsa, Jasbir Singh Gill and Inderbir Singh Bolaria among others, it added.

It was further claimed that probe is pending in two cases against former BJP minister Anil Joshi (now in SAD), five against Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) MLA Simarjeet Singh Bains, two cases against Sukhbir and one each against Aam Aadmi Party MP Bhagwant Mann and leader of opposition Harpal Singh Cheema, Sukhpal Singh Khaira among others.

During the hearing on Tuesday, the court was miffed with Punjab, Haryana and central agencies for not filing their reports on time. “This conduct on part of the two states and the CBI is totally unacceptable. It is for the last time that the court is accommodating by taking these additional affidavits/reports on record today,” the bench said while posting the matter for hearing on November 11.

The unraced/ cancelled reports were filed in three FIRs against Sukhbir (criminal intimidation, wrongful restraint, not obeying public servant’s order); one FIR against Jagir Kaur (under National Highways Act); one against Parminder Singh Dhindsa (wrongful restraint) and one each against MP Jasbir Singh Gill and MLA Inderbir Singh Bularia (under Representation of People Act).

Others in whose cases cancellation reports/untraced reports were filed are former MLA Guriqbal Kaur (forgery, criminal conspiracy), MLA Simarjeet Bains (defacement of public property), MLA Pawan Kumar Tinu (under Disaster Management Act); former MLAs Upinderjit Kaur and Ravinder Singh Brahmpura, (under National Highways Act), former minister Nusrat Ikram Khan and former MLA Iqbal Singh Jhunda (wrongful restraint case); ex-legislator Tarlochan Singh Soondh (defacement of property), MLAs Baljinder Kaur, Kultar Singh Sandhwan and Gurmeet Singh (not following order promulgated by a public servant) and former MLA Kanwarjit Singh Rozy Barkandi (not following order promulgated by a public servant).