The Punjab police have told the Punjab and Haryana high court that probe is pending in only 12 cases with the state police now, and trial is pending in 90 criminal cases in different courts, registered against sitting and erstwhile MLAs and MPs of the state.
In a report submitted in the HC the Punjab police have listed out steps taken for speeding up the probes and trials and submitted that in January, probe was pending in 17 cases and the number also came down to six for some time but after fresh FIRs involving Congress leaders, now pendency is of 12 cases.
For speeding up trials, all district units have been told to establish ‘pairavi’ cells and monthly reports have been sought from field units, the court has been told.
Oldest case pending probe is of 2018 FIR in sacrilege incidents of 2015, involving former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal; his son Sukhbir Singh Badal and former MLA Mantar Singh Brar. Pending cases also include drugs case against former Akali minister Bikram Singh Majithia. Five of the criminal cases registered recently, include corruption cases against former ministers Sham Sunder Arora and Sadhu Singh Dharamsot; and former MLA Madan Lal Jalapur.
A corruption case against former MLA Brij Bhupinder Singh registered in 1998 is the oldest case pending trial. In the case, untraced report was presented on November 25 last year, the report reveals.
{{/usCountry}}A corruption case against former MLA Brij Bhupinder Singh registered in 1998 is the oldest case pending trial. In the case, untraced report was presented on November 25 last year, the report reveals.
{{/usCountry}}The report was filed in a 2022 suo motu plea initiated by the HC, in which it is monitoring status of probes and trials against politicians upon orders from the Supreme Court in this regard.
Probe pending in only two cases in Chandigarh
The Chandigarh police told the HC that only two cases are pending probe, including one against Haryana minister Sandeep Singh. The second FIR is against Narinder Singh, AAP MLA from Fazilka, registered on February 1.
As per UT, 10 cases are pending under trial, including one in which Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann is an accused, registered during the Covid period.
The UT police have also filed cancellation reports against Congress and SAD leaders in criminal cases registered during the Covid pandemic in 2021 and 2022, a report in the HC revealed.
An FIR against SAD leaders, including Bikram Singh Majithia and eight other former or then sitting MLAs, was registered on March 16, 2021 for an incident where they tried to gherao the residence of the then Punjab CM during a rally. The matter was reinvestigated and fresh cancellation report was filed on April 11.
As of Congress leaders, they were also booked for various offences in an FIR registered on June 9, 2022. The cancellation report was submitted on February 13. The accused included PCC president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Partap Singh Bajwa and 25 other sitting and former MLAs, MPs.