Welcoming the intervention of Punjab & Haryana High Court for ordering the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to complete its investigation in Jagdish Bhola drug racket by July 31, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today said that it vindicates the stand of the party (AAP), which had accused Akalis for deliberate delay in investigation.
“We always condemned inordinate and deliberate delay in investigation by all Special Investigation Teams (SITs), be it in the investigation of drug related cases of in the investigation of the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib in Bargardi followed in the firing by the police in which two Sikh youth were killed”, State Convenor of AAP, Sucha Singh Chhotepur said.It is pertinent to mention here that the Punjab and Haryana high court has asked the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted to review investigations into the Jagdish Bhola drug racket to complete its work byJuly 31. Earlier the review was to be completed by December 31, 2015.Chhotepur revealed that on October 10 last year, the high court appointed a supervisory panel comprising three officers of the inspector general of police rank, including Ishwar Singh, G Nageshwar Rao and V Neerja, to review the probe, but the outcome of the investigation could not see the light of the day.
In October 2015, the SIT was asked to complete the work by December 31 and was given the liberty to file supplementary reports before lower courts, wherever it found necessary, Chhotepur said adding that the SIT was asked to review the investigations as the high court had found “lack of commitment” by some police officials in some cases and “loopholes and gaps into the probe”.In separate petition involving the same case, the SIT is yet to submit a report sought by high court on May 12, wherein it was told to list out efforts made by the investigating officers to identify the role of one of the accused Satpreet Singh Satta and the efforts made to nab him, Chhotepur said.Even the SIT was asked to list out efforts to take Pindi into custodial interrogation with the “same zeal” the investigating agency had exhibited while arresting others accused, including Jagjit Singh Chahal, Sukhraj Singh Kang, Maninder Singh Aulakh, etc, Chhotepur said claiming that the report was to be submitted in the court by May 30.Training his gun towards Punjab Cabinet Minister Bikramjit Singh Majithia, Chhotepur said that although key accused in the multi-crore drug racket, former DSP Jagdish Bhola had named Majithia for his involvement in the drug racket, but fate of the investigation regarding Majithia’s involvement is still ‘hanging in balance”.“Although Majithia was summoned by Enforcement Directorate for questioning, but outcome of the investigation by ED was also not made public”, Chhotepur.