To determine the truth behind allegations of graft against a station house officer (SHO) in Patiala,and the clean chit given to him by S K Asthana,Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG),Patiala Range,the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday said a special investigation team (SIT) needs to be constituted to probe the case. Making the observation,Justice Rajan Gupta directed the law officer appearing for the Punjab government to seek instructions as to which officers shall be appointed in the SIT,which may include a DIG from Vigilance and another from the Crime Branch of the state police. The government offered to get the case investigated by the state Vigilance Bureau,but Justice Gupta said the case needs to be investigated by an SIT and by an officer not below the rank of DIG. The case assumes significance since Asthanas name had figured in the case after he had given a clean chit to the SHO in a Rs 19-lakh graft case,dismissing a strongly-worded report given by Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP),Fatehgarh Sahib. The SSP had held the SHO,Satpal Singh,guilty,and recommended registration of an FIR against him. But DIG Asthana turned down the report. No action whatsoever is warranted against the SHO as there is no clinching and convincing evidence against him, reads the report given by Asthana. Asthana had termed the SSPs report as one-sided and said it was prepared without seeking comments of the accused and in absence of witnesses. Asthana had submitted that the district attorney (DA) had given a legal opinion against the findings of the SSP. The DA had questioned the delay caused in making a complaint against the SHO and other legal glitches. As a result of this,Asthana had stated that after consulting the case with higher authorities,a departmental inquiry has been ordered against the SHO. Following this,the HC had summoned Asthana,asking him for explanation. The controversy emanates from an FIR which was registered by the Patiala police on December 14,2007 wherein four persons,Amrik Singh of Patiala,and Ramesh Kumar,Sukhchain Singh and Sukhjant Singh of Ambala were arrested with poppy husk. One Saminder Singh alleged that rather than taking action against the four persons,his son Gurbhag Singh was arrested and a false case was foisted on Gurbhag. He alleged that the SHO demanded a bribe of Rs 35 lakh to bury the case and had even taken Rs 19.6 lakh from the four accused.
