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Time of India
a day ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Punjab vigilance bureau in turmoil: 3 chiefs out, suspensions in over 3 months
AI image (TIL creatives) LUDHIANA: In less than four months, the Punjab (VB) has seen the removal of three chief directors, suspension of four officers, and reinstatement of two, under the AAP-led Punjab govt. The latest development saw the suspension of Ludhiana VB senior superintendent of police (SSP) Jagatpreet Singh on Friday, accused of "grave misconduct and dereliction of duty." The move came a day after the Ludhiana VB summoned Congress candidate for the June 19 Ludhiana West byelection and former minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu in connection with an alleged case of private school land misuse. The summons sparked a political uproar, with Congress leaders accusing the govt of "misusing state agencies" for electoral gains. The ongoing crisis began in Feb when the AAP govt removed 1993-batch IPS officer Varinder Kumar, who is to retire on July 31, from his position as VB chief director, replacing him with 1995-batch IPS officer G Nageswara Rao. However, Rao's tenure was short-lived, and by late March, 1997-batch IPS officer S P S Parmar was appointed as the new chief director. A month later, Parmar was suspended on April 25, facing similar charges of "grave misconduct and dereliction of duty." He was replaced by 1994-batch IPS officer P K Sinha, who currently serves as both VB chief director and Punjab intelligence chief. The suspensions on April 25 also included Mohali VB assistant inspector general Swarandeep Singh and Jalandhar VB SSP Harpreet Singh Mander, following alleged inaction in arresting two transport department officials booked on corruption charges by the VB. Both officers were reinstated after their suspensions were revoked on May 18. In Parmar's case, the Union ministry of home affairs approved his suspension last month after Punjab took up the matter as standard procedure while dealing with such matters pertaining to IPS officers. The MHA has asked the Punjab govt to issue a charge-sheet against Parmar by June 23. Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Eid wishes , messages , and quotes !
New Indian Express
2 days ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Vigilance sleuth suspended after issuing summons to Punjab Congress leader, AAP alleges nexus between them
CHANDIGARH: A day after the state vigilance bureau issued a summons to the Congress candidate for the Ludhiana (West) assembly seat Bharat Bhushan Ashu in connection with an alleged Rs 2,400 crore scam, the Punjab government suspended Jagatpreet Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police (Vigilance) at Ludhiana, claiming that he issued the summons in connivance with Ashu to benefit him in the ensuing bypoll. The summons issued by Jagatpreet Singh directed Ashu to appear for questioning on Friday. The summons related to a First Information Report (FIR) registered on January 8 in which Ashu and others were accused of cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery, and conspiracy. The investigation was transferred to the Vigilance Bureau owing to the suspected involvement of government officials. The alleged scam pertains to 4.7 acres of land given to New Senior Secondary School in Sarabha Nagar at a subsidised rate strictly for educational purposes by the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) decades ago. However, during investigations it came to light that parts of this land are being illegally used for commercial activities. Additional Chief Secretary, (Home) Alok Shekhar, issued the order which states that Jagatpreet Singh has been placed under suspension with immediate effect under Rule 4(1) (a) of the Punjab Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 1970, for his "grave misconduct and dereliction of duty". Meanwhile, the state Congress leadership has trashed the allegations of a nexus between Ashu and the suspended police officer. Calling it a 'a calculated attempt to intimidate' Ashu ahead of the Ludhiana West bypoll, senior Congress leader and leader of the opposition Partap Singh Bajwa said, "It's clear that the AAP government first tried to use state machinery to scare Ashu into silence. Summons were issued to him by the Vigilance Bureau just weeks before polling—not as part of any genuine investigation, but as a crude, desperate tactic to gain political advantage." Bajwa questioned the intent behind the timing, calling it a 'desperate, dictatorial move' and a gross misuse of power. 'This is not governance; this is vendetta politics at its worst,' he said. "When their intimidation attempt backfired and public backlash intensified, the AAP shifted gears in a bizarre U-turn. In an unbelievable twist, Vigilance Bureau SSP Jagatpreet Singh—who had issued the summons to Ashu—was suddenly suspended," he said.
Indian Express
2 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
SSP Vigilance Jagatpreet Singh, who issued summons to Congress Ludhiana West bypoll candidate Ashu, suspended
The Punjab government Friday suspended Jagatpreet Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Vigilance, Ludhiana, a day after he issued a summons to Congress leader Bharat Bhushan Ashu. Alok Shekhar, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Home Affairs, issued the suspension order. The order says that Jagatpreet Singh has been placed under suspension with immediate effect under Rule 4(1) (a) of the Punjab Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 1970, for his 'grave misconduct and dereliction of duty'. The Punjab Vigilance Bureau summoned Congress leader and Ludhiana West bypoll candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu in connection with a five-month-old school land misuse case. The summons relate to a First Information Report (FIR) filed on January 8, 2025, at Ludhiana's Division Number 5 police station, accusing Ashu and others of cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery, and conspiracy. The investigation was transferred to the Vigilance Bureau owing to suspected involvement of government officials. At least 25 others, including current and former school management committee members, were also summoned. Government sources alleged that the SSP Vigilance issued the summons in connivance with Ashu to give him the benefit in the ensuing by-poll slated for June 19. However, Congress leader Raj Kumar Verka trashed the allegations and said it was just an excuse of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. 'Does the AAP want to say that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who is also the state home minister and to whom the Vigilance Bureau reports, is so helpless that he does not know what is happening right under his nose?' Verka told media persons. Reacting to SSP's suspension, Ashu, while speaking to The Indian Express, said it was a 'cheap tactic of the ruling AAP government' and yet another U-turn which it has taken after facing widespread criticism. On allegations that he was 'in touch with the SSP' and 'got summons issued to himself', Ashu said: 'Did I send the case file to the vigilance and ask them to send summons to me? Is Ashu so powerful in the AAP government that he can get summons issued to himself? They make police officers scapegoats as per their whims and fancies. Earlier, they had suspended Chief Director Vigilance SPS Parmar in a similar way. The AAP's cheap politics cannot get dirtier than this.' Ashu further said that since the past two weeks as the campaigning for Ludhiana West by-election gathered pace, a 'message' has been sent to all 28 police stations in Ludhiana 'to dig out if any previous/old complaints' are pending against him so that he can be 'implicated and harassed again.' 'Ashu nu phasao (implicate Ashu) is the only motive of this government,' said Ashu. Responding to the school land misuse case in which he was sent fresh summons, he said: 'It has been over a decade since I had resigned from that school's management committee. Twenty-seven others who also left the committee several years ago have been summoned just because they know me. This is the height.' Ashu also refuted allegations of any meeting being held between him and the suspended SSP in recent times. Meanwhile, addressing a press conference in Ludhiana, Ashu, along with other senior Congress leaders, released the photographs of a meeting, purportedly showing AAP Ludhiana West bypoll candidate-cum-Rajya Sabha member Sanjeev Arora addressing a group of officials, including Jagatpreet Singh. Kapurthala Congress MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh said, 'This photograph is clear evidence of how the entire administration and the police machinery are working on the orders of the AAP candidate. He has no authority to address or order government officials or the police, but he is doing that. What the AAP is doing to win this election is morally and ethically wrong.' Divya Goyal is a Principal Correspondent with The Indian Express, based in Punjab. Her interest lies in exploring both news and feature stories, with an effort to reflect human interest at the heart of each piece. She writes on gender issues, education, politics, Sikh diaspora, heritage, the Partition among other subjects. She has also extensively covered issues of minority communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan. She also explores the legacy of India's partition and distinct stories from both West and East Punjab. She is a gold medalist from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi, the most revered government institute for media studies in India, from where she pursued English Journalism (Print). Her research work on 'Role of micro-blogging platform Twitter in content generation in newspapers' had won accolades at IIMC. She had started her career in print journalism with Hindustan Times before switching to The Indian Express in 2012. Her investigative report in 2019 on gender disparity while treating women drug addicts in Punjab won her the Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitivity in 2020. She won another Laadli for her ground report on the struggle of two girls who ride a boat to reach their school in the border village of Punjab. ... Read More
