In yet another shocking move, the former Cabinet minister and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Tuesday during his visit to Burj Jawahar Singh gurdwara lashed out at Captain Amarinder-led-Congress government and questioned their investigation in Kotakpura and Behbal Kalan firing incidents of 2015.
The former minister demanded that the report of the SIT of Punjab Police probing the sacrilege incidents of 2015 must be made public.
Two persons were killed and many others were injured after the police under the previous SAD-BJP government resorted to unprovoked firing on hundreds of people protesting the alleged desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib in Bargari village in Faridkot district in 2015.
Hitting out at Captain Amarinder-led-Congress government for their ‘weak’ investigation into the cases, Sidhu, who visited the Burj Jawahar Singh gurdwara, the epicentre of the sacrilege incidents in Bargari, on the occasion of Baisakhi today, said that just like the tabling of the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report in the Assembly, the report prepared by the head of the Special Investigation Team, Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, should also be made public.
After paying obeisance at the gurdwara, Sidhu said that people had high hopes that the guilty of the Kotakpura and Behbal Kalan firing cases would be brought to book.
While sharing his video on his official twitter handle, Sidhu wrote, "More law, less justice... Justice delayed is justice denied."
The Justice Ranjit Singh Commission, in its report, had said that it was only a fact-finding report and further investigations were required.
Subsequently, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had picked the SIT team led by Inspector General Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh for the probe.
Last week, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had quashed the SIT probe into the Kotkapur firing case and directed the state to constitute a new SIT without Vijay Pratap Singh.
The directions were passed by the bench of Justice Rajbir Sherawat, which was hearing a plea filed by Gurdeep Singh, former police officer at Kotkapura, and another official who had approached the court seeking directions to remove the IPS officer from the investigation team.
In a related development, after the high court order, the Chief Minister had refused to accept the resignation letter of Vijay Pratap Singh seeking premature retirement from service.
Declining the voluntary retirement plea of Vijay Pratap Singh, who is currently heading the SITs probing the Kotakpura and Behbal Kalan firing cases, the Chief Minister said that he was a highly competent and efficient officer whose services were needed in the border state, especially at a time when Punjab is faced with various internal and external security threats.
The state needs the expertise and experience of the officer, who has contributed exceptional service to Punjab Police in various important positions, the Chief Minister said, describing Vijay Pratap Singh as a skilled, capable and courageous officer with an exemplary track record.
The SIT has so far chargesheeted six persons in connection with the case, including then Kotkapura Akali MLA Mantar Singh Brar.