‘Assault’ on Colonel, son: Bath family refuses to withdraw case in high court in lieu of transferring Patiala SSP

Highly placed sources said the latest development came on the heels of a meeting that the Bath family had with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday. The Colonel’s wife Jaswinder Kaur Bath had told reporters after the meeting that the chief minister had promised action by Monday evening after holding a meeting with senior civil and police officers.

Sources said a message was conveyed to the family via Army channels that SSP Nanak Singh will be transferred out of Patiala and the SIT will conduct a fair probe if the Army officer withdrew his plea before the high court seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The high court is set the hear the case again on April 3. In the previous hearing on March 28, the court criticised the affidavit filed by SSP Singh and raised serious questions over the delay in registering the First Information Report (FIR) and the Daily Diary Report (DDR).

The court sought an affidavit detailing why police officers were present at the location of the assault and whether they were on duty at the time. It also sought details of all FIRs registered in Patiala district between March 18 and 20, when police were on high alert due to the farmers’ protest.

The SIT, meanwhile, visited Patiala on Monday and released a phone number on which people with information about the case can share it with the police. Amardeep Singh Rai, who heads the SIT, assured the media that the team was committed to ensuring a fair investigation into the incident.