3 of 4 sealed cover reports on drugs issue opened; HC allows Punjab to take action

As former DGP Suresh Arora – through a fresh application – objected to opening of the fourth report signed only by Siddharth Chattopadhyaya, the court issued a notice to the two former Punjab DGPs Siddharth Chattopadhyaya and Dinkar Gupta to present their side in the next hearing on May 4.

The fourth report was also submitted before the court by the SIT head in 2018.

As the proceedings in the matter resumed on Tuesday, appearing for the Punjab government, Additional Advocate-General Gaurav Garg Dhuriwala contended that the government wanted all the reports to be opened in the court.

The division bench of Justice G S Sandhawalia and Justice Harpreet Kaur Jeewan took note of the fresh application filed by former Punjab DGP and present Chief Information Commissioner (CIC), Punjab, Suresh Arora, who has sought liberty to intervene in the proceedings and to assist the court in the right perspective, with a view to bring forth certain relevant facts concerning the submission of the ‘private report’ by Siddharth Chattopadhyaya.

In the application, Arora through counsels – Senior Advocate R S Cheema with Vipul Joshi and Sartej Narula – contended that “the need for him to intervene in the present proceedings in his personal capacity has arisen on account of the totally false and orchestrated campaign that is being run in a bid to hijack and derail the proceedings in the main petition by certain motivated unscrupulous and disgruntled elements to malign not only his reputation and record but to also tarnish the image of the entire Department of Police of the state of Punjab”.

The application of Arora further alleged that “it appears that Chattopadhyaya developed a strong, albeit wholly erroneous perception that the present applicant-intervener was jeopardising his chances of being appointed to the said top post of the Head of the Police Force…it was at the commencement of the said professional race that Chattopadhyaya chose to make wild and baseless allegations against the present applicant-intervener as well as Dinkar Gupta, IPS, with a view to gain an unfair advantage”.

Arora’s application also alleged that Chattopadhyaya had acted beyond the scope of the mandate of the SIT, as specified by the court at the time of its constitution, and Chattopadhyaya acted in a mala fide manner with a view to better his chances of being appointed to the top post of the Head of the Police Force, Punjab, at the relevant time when he (Suresh Arora) were to demit the said office and hand over the baton to his successor.

It was also submitted in the application of Arora that the other two members of the SIT, namely Prabodh Kumar, IPS, and Kunwar Vijay Pratap, IPS, had unequivocally distanced and disassociated themselves from all steps taken by Chattopadhyaya beyond March 14, 2018, and that the ‘private report’ filed by Chattopadhyaya had not even been signed by the said other two members of the SIT.

Taking note of the application, the bench issued a notice to Chattopadhyaya to grant him an opportunity of hearing in the context of the intervention application filed by Suresh Arora.

The bench also directed the Punjab government to file a ‘status report’ in respect of the FIR No. 1 dated January 3, 2018, registered in Amritsar regarding the suicide committed by an industrialist, while noting that the investigation in the said FIR, qua Chattopadhyaya, had been stayed by the court vide its order dated April 6, 2018.

The court further ordered that the matter be re-listed for hearing on May 4, 2023, for further consideration.

The notice issued to Dinkar Gupta was received by his counsel, Senior Advocate Randeep Rai, Advocate Preet Inder Singh Ahluwalia with Gautam Dutt.

The high court is yet to release the order.