CHANDIGARH, Punjab—On April 10, the Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh shot a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner of India Mr. Sunil Arora expressing objection over its decision to remove IG Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh from the Special Investigation Team probing the Kotkapura and Behbal Klan firing incidents. Captain Amarinder Singh has appealed the Chief Election Commissioner to review its decision.
Captain has told the CEC Sunil Arora that the SIT was carrying out a fair investigation which was an ongoing statutory process under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and was not affected by the model code of conduct.
Asserting that there was nothing unusual about an investigating agency communicating with the media, the Chief Minister said, “Such briefings are now a matter of norm and practice in the interest of transparency and public awareness. Even investigating agencies such as the CBI issue press releases from time to time or upload details on their website”.
The IG’s interview in question, when viewed in the right perspective, was clearly not in breach of the poll code. It was not politically motivated as he made no political comment, the Chief Minister wrote in his letter. “Rather, despite pointed political questions, Kuwar Vijay Pratap specifically declined from answering such questions,” he added.
It may be recalled here that the Election Commission of India had directed the Chief Secretary of Punjab on April 8 to relieve IG Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh from his present posting as a member of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) which is probing the police firing incidents occurred at Behbal Klan and Kotkapura. The EC had asked the Chief Secretary not to deploy IG Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh on any post related to election work.
