Year Ender | Punjab Police’s 2025 paradox: Record busts amid grenades, extortion and growing gangster impunity

The year ended on an embarrassing note for the Punjab Police, with the Punjab and Haryana High Court taking suo motu cognisance of the murder of kabaddi promoter Kanwar Digvijay Singh alias Rana Balachauria on December 15. The court has summoned the DGP at the next hearing in January 2026.

The daylight murder of a businessman in Abohar in July sent shockwaves among the business community in the state and dealt a severe blow to the public perception of the Punjab Police. While the police claimed to have killed a facilitator of the killers in an encounter subsequently, the veracity of which came under doubt, it has failed to nab the three killers till now, despite having formed multiple teams to chase them.

DGP Gaurav Yadav said that the Punjab Police registered 29,784 cases and recorded 39,867 arrests, resulting in the recovery of the highest-ever 2,021 kg of heroin in one year. Apart from recovering a big haul of heroin, the police have also 26 kg “ice”, 698 kg opium, 35,000 kg poppy husk, 55.78 lakh intoxicant pills/capsules, and Rs 16.81 crores drug money from the possession of arrested drug smugglers, he said.

However, there are no indications at the ground level that the anti-drug drive of the Punjab Police has resulted in a lesser availability of drugs on the streets.

Assault on a serving Colonel and his son

Moreover, the image of the Punjab Police received several blows throughout the year through numerous incidents. The assault on a serving Colonel and his son by police officers in Patiala in March, and the manner in which the then Nanak Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Patiala, allowed the accused to walk free, brought ill repute to the force. Here again, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had to intervene and order a CBI probe.

Later in the year, a wave of indignation is learnt to have spread in the Punjab Police’s rank and file following the suspension of Maninder Singh as SSP Amritsar Rural in the immediate aftermath of the Tarn Taran by-election. The officer’s suspension, preceded by several other suspensions, including that of Tarn Taran SSP Dr Ravjot Grewal by the Election Commission of India (ECI), the CBI raid on former Ropar Range DIG HS Bhullar, and the summoning of state DGP Gaurav Yadav by ECI, caused turmoil within the force.

Close on the heels of the arrest and public humiliation of former DIG Ropar Range Harcharan Singh Bhullar by CBI, consequent to the seizure a huge cache of cash, gold, and other valuable items from his residence in Chandigarh, the Tarn Taran fallout left the morale of the Punjab Police middle-level leadership bruised and battered.

The snap-of-finger suspensions ordered by the AAP Government did nothing to help the situation. In an unprecedented move, an ADGP-rank officer, SPS Parmar, was suspended in April as the Chief Director of Vigilance along with two AIG-level officials. All three were reinstated in August.

SSP Fazilka was suspended in May on allegations of misconduct and dereliction of duty, but was reinstated in August and given a new posting.

Another Vigilance officer of SSP rank, Jagatbir Singh, was suspended in September during the Ludhiana West by-poll. He is said to have got the axe due to perceived inaction against the Congress candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu. He, too, has now been reinstated.

Mishandling of the arrest of SAD candidate’s daughter

The mishandling of the arrest of Kanchanpreet Kaur, daughter of the Shiromani Akali Dal SAD candidate in the Tarn Taran by-poll, Sukhwinder Kaur, earlier in December also left the police with egg on its face when she was set free by a court, which conducted a hearing through the night.

The audio recording purported to be that of Patiala SSP, Varun Sharma, during the Zila Parishad and Block Samiti polls earlier in December was another severe blow to the image of the police force. The knee-jerk explanation of the police attributing the clip to Artificial Intelligence (AI) had few buyers, and the High Court again had to step in and point out that a neutral forensic analysis was the way forward.

The stopping of newspaper delivery vehicles in early November under the garb of checking for drugs and explosives was seen as a strong-arm tactic on political orders, using an intelligence alert as a fig leaf.

The Punjab Police, which faces substantial challenges ranging from ISI machinations along the Indo-Pak border, huge influx of drugs and arms from drones and rampant extortions, killings by gangsters, now faces considerable political pressure with little more than a year left for the next assembly elections. Going by the track record in 2025, the chances of making amends in conduct appear slim for 2026.