Punjab News

CHANDIGARH: The Police Complaints Authority (PCA) has indicted three high IPS officers for conducting a shoddy investigation with out making use of their minds with a purpose to “delay and impede justice” to a sufferer of custodial rape and extortion, thereby serving to an accused police officer, AIG Ashish Kapoor.

The PCA report has really helpful a “reinvestigation of the case, ideally by registering a contemporary FIR”.

Former DGP Sidharth Chattopadhyay stands indicted for not making use of his thoughts to the report of the Particular Investigation Workforce (SIT) which gave a clear chit to AIG Ashish Kapoor, accused by Poonam Rajan of raping her and extorting Rs 1 crore.

The SIT report was introduced to Chattopadhyay on December 23, 2021, and on the identical day he consigned the report back to the information with out caring to seek the advice of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI), the PCA has said.

Setting apart the findings of the SIT, Satish Chandra IAS (retd), Chairman of the PCA, has really helpful reinvestigation of FIR quantity 151 dated Could 5, 2018, police station Zirakpur towards Poonam and members of her household.

Poonam Rajan Singh and three members of her household have been “wrongly” convicted by a Dera Bassi court docket on this FIR registered on the behest of Ashish Kapoor, then posted as AIG, Punjab Vigilance Bureau.

The four-member SIT was headed by Sharad Satya Chauhan IPS, ADGP, and comprised Vibhu Raj, IPS, ADGP, Ramandeep Singh, PPS, DSP, and Bhagwant Singh Riar, Inspector.

On the instructions of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, all of the 4 indicted officers of SIT and DGP Chattopadhyay (now retired) have been known as upon to clarify their conduct inside a interval of two weeks. In the event that they fail to answer it could imply that they didn’t need to say something of their defence. The letters, calling for his or her clarification within the matter, have been despatched to the indicted officers on Tuesday, November 22, 2022.

The PCA, amongst different issues, additionally relied on the confessional statements of Hem Raj Mittal of Motia Builders Group, Zirakpur, DSP (Cyber Crime) Samarpal Singh, and the all-revealing video recorded in Zirakpur police station exhibiting Ashish Kapoor beating Poonam Rajan. It’s right here that Poonam’s mom, Prem Lata, was compelled to signal the cheques amounting to Rs 1 crore which have been later encashed by individuals linked to Ashish Kapoor.

Mittal later admitted earlier than the Judicial Justice of the Peace, Mohali, that he had tendered false proof throughout the trial of Poonam Rajan, her mom Prem Lata, and brother Kuldip Singh on the behest of Ashish Kapoor.

DSP Samarpal additionally contradicted the contents of FIR quantity 151 of 2018 registered towards Poonam and members of her household and the claims of innocence made by Ashish Kapoor at numerous ranges. He recorded his confessional assertion earlier than Judicial Justice of the Peace, Mohali, Sonali Singh.

Dwelling on the background of the matter, PCA Chairman Satish Chandra information that the victims appeared earlier than Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh, IG, Organised Crime Management Unit (OCCU) throughout their incarceration in Patiala Jail. OCCU DSP Jaskeerat Singh, on the route of the IG, investigated the allegations.

Jaskeerat Singh recorded statements from 40 witnesses and picked up documentary proof inside a interval of three months, nominating Ashish Kapoor as an accused in FIR Quantity 3 of 2019, OCCU, Police station, Mohali. IG Kunwar Vijay Partap accomplished his report on February 7, 2021, and handed it over to SIT.

PCA has really helpful that Jaskeerat Singh, now posted as SP in Jalandhar, be related to the reinvestigation of the case.

Ashish Kapoor managed to get the case transferred from OCCU resulting in the formation of an SIT. The SIT on December 23, 2021, submitted its report back to the then-DGP Chattopadhyay. It gave Ashish Kapoor a clear chit with out correctly learning the obtainable proof.

Satish Chandra states within the report: “There are severe shortcomings in its (SIT’s) investigation…new proof was collected behind the complainant (Poonam Rajan) – this type of cherry-picking has utterly prejudiced the investigation…it’s no investigation…”

He additionally indicated that because the SIT didn’t think about the proof positioned earlier than it by OCCU and the complainant, the members of the staff should additionally remember that they’re liable to be prosecuted below 166 (A) of the IPC.

PCA Chairman states that conserving in view the FIR registered by the Vigilance Bureau towards Ashish Kapoor, the statements of Hem Raj Mittal and DSP Samarpal Singh, it’s crucial to conduct a contemporary investigation into the entire gamut of the Ashish Kapoor-Poonam Rajan affair. Permission of the court docket, if required, could also be taken.

Poonam Rajan had come into contact with Ashish Kapoor when she lodged in Amritsar Jail the place the latter was posted because the Superintendent. Each developed bodily intimacy and even determined to get married after getting divorced from their respective spouses. Poonam had allegedly change into pregnant in Jail. An abortion was in some way acquired carried out with the assistance of jail medical doctors. The love story later turned soar and took a nasty flip.

The Vigilance Bureau arrested Kapoor, who’s now lodged in Patiala jail as an undertrial.

The accused AIG loved a robust place these days, as he was near the then unofficial “grasp regulator” of the Vigilance Division, Bharat Inder Singh Chahal, an Advisor of the then Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh.