It is also submitted that the State was bound to act on the directions of the High Court in respect of drug related matters. “It may be seen that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) submitted the reports in question directly to the HC on February 1, 2018, March 15, 2018 and May 23, 2018 as reflected in the orders as passed by the Commission High Court. Since then the said report is lying in the custody of the Court in a sealed cover. The State of Punjab is bound to act in accordance with the directions passed by this HC in respect of the said report submitted by the SIT,” the state government told the HC on Wednesday. said in an affidavit submitted to
With regard to the allegations made by applicant Navkiran Singh about the inaction of the Punjab government in the matter, the State told the HC, “None of the said reports submitted by the SIT to this HC were ever submitted to the State of Punjab. Thus, the allegations made in the reply application are incorrect that the State of Punjab has failed to act on the said reports.
The reply on the issue was filed by Sarabjit Singh, AIG (Prosecution), Bureau of Investigation, Punjab, on behalf of the State, in compliance with the January 27 order of the High Court.
The high court, in its January 27 order, had sought response from the state government on a plea seeking action against errant state police officials based on the report submitted by DGP S Chattopadhyay in the drug seizure case.
The court had also sought the report after hearing an application filed by Advocate Navkiran seeking direction to take action on the report dated February 1, 2018; March 15, 2018; and presented by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Punjab Police headed by Siddharth Chattopadhyay on May 8, 2018.
Regarding the action taken on Chattopadhyay’s report, the state government said that on November 28, 2017, when the matter came up for consideration before the court, it was directed that STF chief Harpreet Singh SidhuInvestigate the role of an Inspector, Inderjit Singh and the then Moga SSP, Raj Jit Singh Hundal in the context of drug trafficking in Punjab and submit a status report.
To this, Hundal submitted an application, stating that due to Sidhu’s alleged personal bias there was no possibility of a fair and impartial investigation at his hands.
“Without going into the veracity of the aforesaid allegations, the court was pleased to modify its earlier order dated December 15, 2017 to the extent that the allegations of connivance and close association of Rajjit Singh, the then police officer SSP MogaWith Inspector Indrajit, relating to drug-trafficking, will be probed by a three-member SIT, comprising Siddharth Chattopadhyay, Prabodh Kumar and Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh,” the state has explained in its reply to the HC.