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Dismissed Punjab cop Raj Jit Hundal gets arrest shield from Supreme Court
Raj Jit Singh Hundal, a Punjab Police Service officer, was the assistant inspector general (AIG) when he was dismissed from service by the Punjab goernment in April 2023
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday granted anticipatory bail to dismissed Punjab Police officer Raj Jit Singh Hundal who is facing drug trafficking charges and sought the Punjab government’s response in four weeks on his petition that alleged he was made a “scapegoat” in a power tussle between two groups of Punjab Police officers at the highest level.
A bench of justices BR Gavai and Prashant Kumar Mishra protected the former assistant inspector general (AIG) from arrest subject to the condition that he cooperates with the investigation and reports daily to the investigating officer (IO).
“By way of ad interim order, in the event of arrest, the petitioner is directed to be released on bail in connection with FIR No.1 dated June 12, 2017 registered with police station, SAS Nagar... on the condition that petitioner shall report daily to the IO between 10 am to 1 pm and cooperate with the investigation,” the order said.
The Supreme Court court directed him to execute personal bonds for a sum of ₹50,000 with one or more sureties of a like amount.
Raj Jit Singh Hundal approached the top court after he was refused anticipatory bail by the Punjab and Haryana high court on August 3.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who along with advocate Shradha Deshmukh appeared for the dismissed Punjab Police Service officer, pointed out that he was made an accused based on “fabricated” status reports prepared by a special investigation team headed by a former Director General of Police (DGP) whose actions were motivated against the petitioner. The SIT was formed by the high court in a PIL proceeding to ascertain the role of the petitioner after one of his subordinates was arrested and prosecuted in an alleged drug smuggling case.
Sibal told the court that the state government issued an order to the police on April 17, the same day that he was dismissed from service, to be made an accused in the case where his subordinate, former Inspector Inderjeet Singh was being prosecuted.
The bench asked Sibal, “How can the State direct an investigating agency to make someone an accused? How does it interfere with the investigation.”
Sibal read out the letter written by special secretary (home) to the Punjab DGP on April 17, 2023, asking the police to “nominate” the petitioner as an accused in the same FIR pending since 2017 and said, “See what happens with the change of government.”
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) came to power in the state in March last year.
Appearing for the Punjab government, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi pointed out that the state was merely acting on the high court order of March 28 which allowed it to take appropriate action based on the SIT reports. The bench asked the state to put its stand on affidavit.
Raj Jit Hundal claimed he has been cooperating in the probe and objected to the state’s decision to add him as an accused without carrying out any further investigation. He also objected to the high court order of March 28 relied upon by the state and said, “By asking the state to act on the status reports, the high court has influenced the investigation process.”
He further stated, “The order of April 17 whereby the special secretary (home) directed the DGP Punjab to nominate the petitioner as an accused in a six-year-old FIR, is wholly untenable in law and tantamount to dictating the course of investigations.”
The SIT which formed the basis of the case against the petitioner was headed by former IPS officer Siddharth Chattopadhyay along with two other members, Prabhod Kumar and Vijay Pratap Singh, both former IPS who retired as senior police officers in the state.
