Punjab DSP who ‘opened fire’ at wife now faces suspension

A departmental inquiry has also been recommended against Atul, who is posted with 13th Battalion of Punjab Armed Police in Chandigarh.

The Punjab Police have recommended suspension of Atul Soni, a deputy superintendent of police who is accused of firing at his wife at their house in Sector 68, Mohali, on Sunday. A departmental inquiry has also been recommended against Soni, who is posted with 13th Battalion of Punjab Armed Police in Chandigarh.

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“Taking a serious note of delinquent behaviour and conduct of DSP Atul Soni, Punjab Police have recommended his suspension to the state government. The police have also recommended initiating departmental proceedings against him,” the spokesperson of Punjab Police said.

Sources privy to the investigations said, “Soni’s suspension has been recommended for not reporting on duty and in the wake of the FIR against him after a report was sought from his commandant.”

“We had sent a report to the department regarding registration of the case. Soni has been absconding since the registration of the case and raids are on to arrest him,” said Kuldeep Singh Chahal, senior superintendent of police (SSP), Mohali.

Soni was booked on Sunday on the complaint of his wife, Sunita Soni, a former national-level handball player, under Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 498A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) besides the Arms Act at the Phase 8 police station in Mohali.

The local court had dismissed the anticipatory bail plea due to the “nature of allegations, and not the truth/falsity of the same, which, in the instant case, are quite serious.”

Before the hearing of Soni’s anticipatory bail on Thursday, Sunita’s lawyer had submitted that “a compromise has been effected between the parties”, following which Sunita, in an affidavit leaked on social media, had retracted the allegations.